THE Federal Court has dismissed Datin Seri Rosmah Mansor’s bid to revisit her application to remove the trial judge in her solar graft case, ruling that there were insufficient grounds to review the earlier decision and bringing her appeal against her conviction and sentence closer to being heard.
A three-member Federal Court review panel, chaired by Chief Judge of Sabah and Sarawak Datuk Azizah Nawawi, unanimously rejected Rosmah’s application for leave to review the apex court’s earlier refusal to recuse High Court Judge Datuk Mohamed Zaini Mazlan from the case.
"The applicant did not pass the threshold, and the appeal is therefore dismissed," Azizah said in delivering the ruling.
Federal Court judges Datuk Lee Swee Seng and Datuk P Ravinthran also sat on the panel on Wednesday.
Azizah said while the Federal Court had jurisdiction to review its own decisions in exceptional circumstances, such powers must be exercised sparingly and could not be regarded as a second avenue of appeal.
She emphasised that there must be finality in judicial proceedings.
Rosmah had sought permission to challenge the earlier Federal Court ruling that dismissed her attempt to recuse Zaini, who presided over her trial involving the solar hybrid project for 369 rural schools in Sarawak.
The basis of her application centred on two leaked draft notes or "judgements" that emerged shortly before Zaini, who has since been appointed to the Court of Appeal, delivered his judgment on 1 September 2022.
Rosmah argued that the drafts, prepared by the Kuala Lumpur High Court’s research team, resembled a final judgment and contained a "guilty" verdict that could have influenced the trial judge.
However, the earlier Federal Court panel led by senior judge Datuk Nordin Hassan ruled that Rosmah had failed to demonstrate a real danger of bias involving Zaini.
The panel, which included Datuk Che Ruzima Ghazali and Datuk Azimah Omar, upheld the Court of Appeal’s finding that the leaked drafts differed from Zaini’s actual written judgment.
Rosmah had also sought the recusal of Nordin and Che Ruzima, claiming their previous involvement in applications related to the solar case created a potential risk of bias.
The review panel rejected the argument, ruling that there was no failure of quorum as alleged by her legal team.
Azizah explained that quorum failure was a narrow legal issue applicable only in specific circumstances, such as when members of a judicial panel were absent and unable to perform their duties.
She noted that all three judges in the previous proceedings were present and capable of hearing the matter.
The panel also found no real danger of bias, stating that Nordin and Che Ruzima had only dealt with applications relating to Rosmah’s judicial review proceedings and had not considered the substantive merits of the solar graft case.
Although the Federal Court is the final court of appeal, parties may in rare circumstances seek a review of a decision by a previous panel. Such applications require leave from a separate panel before a substantive review can be heard.
Rosmah, the wife of former prime minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak, was convicted on all three corruption charges linked to the solar hybrid project and sentenced to 10 years’ imprisonment, in addition to a RM970 million fine — the highest fine ever imposed by the High Court in a corruption case.
With Wednesday’s decision, Rosmah’s main appeal against her conviction and sentence, which had been stayed pending the outcome of the review application, can now proceed.
The Court of Appeal is scheduled to hear the appeal in September.
Rosmah was represented by lawyers Datuk Jagjit Singh, Datuk Akberdin Abdul Kader, Azrul Zulkifli Stork, Datuk Firoz Hussein Ahmad Jamaluddin and Datuk Amer Hamzah Arshad.
The prosecution was led by deputy public prosecutors K Mangaiarkarasi and Mohd Asnawi Abu Hanipah from the Attorney General’s Chambers’ Trial and Appellate Division. - July 29, 2026
