Rosmah Mansor, who is facing corruption charges linked to the Sarawak schools solar energy project, claims that former attorney-general Tommy Thomas and retired Federal Court judge Gopal Sri Ram conspired to oppress her, similar to what was done to her husband, Najib Razak.
She said an individual identified as Hamidah Osman lodged a police report at Batu Gajah, Perak, on May 20 after Thomas filed two affidavits to dismiss her applications to disqualify Sri Ram from prosecuting her case and declare her trial a nullity.
Hamidah, she said, alleged that Thomas had “cheated and lied” in affirming the affidavits.
“The court must also look into this fact in assessing what Thomas stated in his affidavits as he lacks credibility,” the former prime minister’s wife said in her counter-affidavit filed last week sighted by FMT.
“Thomas has a clear intention with Sri Ram to achieve their nefarious agenda to oppress me like what they did to Najib.”
Sri Ram is also leading the prosecution team in the ongoing 1MDB corruption and the 1MDB audit report tampering charges against Najib.
Aizulhaimi Mohd Termizi, an aide to Rosmah, has also filed a police report claiming that Thomas had committed perjury by affirming the affidavits in support of Sri Ram’s appointment.
Rosmah alleged that Thomas’ decision to appoint Sri Ram as a senior public prosecutor under Section 376 (3) of the Criminal Procedure Code (CPC) was not gazetted nor had any documents been produced in court so far.
Her lawyers have taken the position that Sri Ram, who is back in practice after retirement, should have been appointed under Section 379 of the CPC to prosecute her.
“His (Thomas’) explanation on the appointment is a fantasy as a fiat (licence) was only issued by the present AG Idrus Harun on July 8, 2020,” she said.
She also said Thomas had stated in his memoir, “My Story: Justice in the Wilderness”, published early this year, that the appointment of Sri Ram under Section 376(3) of the CPC was to only review investigation papers and conduct prosecution in relation to 1MDB cases.
Thomas, however, has since said he appointed Sri Ram under Section 376(3) of the CPC to conduct all criminal trials, including Rosmah’s corruption and money laundering cases.
“Since Sri Ram was under my general control and direction, and was in a position to exercise all the powers of the public prosecutor, I personally authorised him to conduct other prosecutions as well,” he said.
Thomas said that on Aug 30, 2018, he appointed Sri Ram as a senior DPP to handle prosecutions relating to what has come to be known as the “1MDB scandals”.
He said he asked Sri Ram to conduct other prosecutions as well, including against Rosmah for corruption and money laundering.
“The contention that I had to give Sri Ram another letter in writing (to prosecute in Rosmah’s corruption case) under Section 379 of the CPC is a legal fallacy,” he said.
Rosmah’s applications are scheduled to be heard before judge Mohamed Zaini Mazlan on June 3.
The applications were filed after the Court of Appeal ruled in April that Sri Ram’s appointment letter was not dated on or before Nov 15, 2018, the day when Rosmah was charged in court, and was not signed by Thomas.
Judge Suraya Othman, who chaired the three-member bench, said the letter was dated July 8, 2020 – 19 months after Rosmah was charged – and was signed by (current attorney-general) Idrus.
Rosmah is charged with soliciting RM187.5 million from contractor Saidi Abang Samsudin in the Sarawak schools solar energy supply project, as well as receiving RM6.5 million from him.
It was alleged that the money was meant to help Saidi’s company, Jepak Holdings Sdn Bhd, to secure the RM1.25 billion project.
Rosmah’s defence is scheduled to be heard for nine days between June and July. – FMT