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Rosmah Mansor, the wife of jailed former Malaysian Prime Minister Najib Razak, has requested the Court of Appeal to temporarily release her passport so that she could travel to Singapore to visit her daughter, Nooryana Najwa Najib, Malaysiakini reported.
Third application
This is the third time Rosmah has applied for a temporary passport release.
Her passport was impounded in 2019 due to corruption charges.
On Oct. 15 2021, Rosmah requested the temporary release of her passport so she could go to Singapore and visit Nooryana who was about to give birth.
Her passport was temporarily released for the second time in March this year, allowing the 71-year-old to visit her daughter and grandson who was reportedly unwell.
She was also able to celebrate Hari Raya with her family in Singapore during her visit between Mar. 23 and May 5.
Rosmah's legal counsel Akberdin Abdul Kader confirmed with Malaysiakini that his client had filed an application for a temporary passport release on Jun. 2.
Potential June-July visit
In her latest application, Rosmah is seeking to visit Singapore from Jun. 6 to Jul. 7 this year, though the actual date and duration of her visit may differ depending on what the Court of Appeal may grant, if it permits the application.
Rosmah claimed that she wanted to visit Nooryana, who is living in Singapore with her Kazakhstan-national husband Daniyar Kessikbayev.
"On that ground, I humbly apply to this honourable court for permission to allow my international passport to be released to me to enable me to use it to conduct my personal visitation of my daughter and her family in Singapore,” Rosmah said, as quoted by Malaysiakini.
No previous objection from prosecution
According to advice from her legal team, Rosmah maintained that her application is proper and that the prosecution has no objection to it as per letters exchanged between her lawyers and prosecutors dated May 26 and Jun. 1.
Rosmah added that she is aware of the consequence of going against the court order for her to attend her criminal proceedings, and said she has never failed to attend court trials without "reasonable explanations".
Rosmah pointed out that the court had granted her similar requests on two separate occasions in 2021 and in March this year, which also did not raise any protest from the prosecution.
The application for the release of her passport has been fixed for a hearing at the Court of Appeal tomorrow (Jun. 15).
Three corruption charges
Rosmah was convicted of three corruption charges in September last year.
She was found guilty of soliciting RM187.5 million (S$54.5 million) from Jepak Holdings, a solar energy company based in Malaysia.
She was also found guilty of accepting two bribes amounting to RM6.5 million (S$1.8 million).
She was given a sentence of 10 years in jail and a fine of RM970 million (S$281.9 million).
However, she appealed against her conviction and was granted a stay of execution pending her appeal in the Court of Appeal.
The hearing for her appeal will take place between Jul. 11 to Jul. 14 this year, The Star reported.
She is currently out on bail.
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Top image via Mohd Rasfan/Getty images.
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