KUALA LUMPUR – Datin Seri Rosmah Mansor today claimed as null and void the appointment of Datuk Seri Gopal Sri Ram as Deputy Public Prosecutor (DPP) to handle a corruption case against her.
The wife of former prime minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak, who is facing charges involving a solar hybrid project worth RM1.25 billion for rural schools in Sarawak, claimed that Sri Ram’s appointment by then Attorney-General Tan Sri Tommy Thomas – made orally under Section 376 (3) of the Criminal Procedure Code (CPC) – was never gazetted or highlighted during her application and appeal to obtain Sri Ram’s fiat (appointment letter) in the High Court and the Court of Appeal previously.
“The alleged appointment by Thomas under Section 376 (3) of the CPC is totally against the logic of common sense, where fiat in writing under that section is a mandatory requirement under law in the context of the prosecution against me.
“Thomas had also conspired with Sri Ram to persecute me and the former Attorney-General’s action of lying in the affidavit which he swore upon is unforgivable and an insult to the court,” Rosmah said in her affidavit-in-reply filed on May 21 in response to Thomas’ affidavit on behalf of Sri Ram.
Thomas’ affidavit was in response to Rosmah’s application to invalidate her entire trial in an effort to be acquitted of all three charges and to request that Sri Ram, a former Federal Court judge, be dropped from leading the prosecution team in the trial.
Rosmah also claimed that Thomas, through his book My Story: Justice in the Wilderness published this year also admitted that Sri Ram’s appointment was related to the 1Malaysia Development Bhd (1MDB) issue and not the solar hybrid case.
“I have also been informed that two police reports have been lodged by Aizulhaimi Mohd Termizi and Hamidah Osman, dated May 18 and May 20 respectively, in relation to lies by Thomas in his affidavit.
“What is clear is that Thomas has conspired with Sri Ram to ensure that their wicked agenda to persecute me is achieved, as they did to Datuk Seri Najib Razak,” Rosmah said in her affidavit-in-reply.
Thomas, in his sworn affidavit, claimed that Sri Ram’s appointment as DPP in 2018 was to handle high-profile criminal cases including Rosmah’s solar hybrid project case, and that it was in accordance with Section 376 (3) of the CPC as Sri Ram was under his general control and directive and was in a position to exercise all the powers of the public prosecutor.
Rosmah’s application, filed on May 6, is set to be heard before High Court Judge Mohamed Zaini Mazlan on June 3.
Rosmah, 69, filed the application after the Court of Appeal on April 8 allowed her appeal to get a copy of Sri Ram's appointment letter, after the prosecution agreed to provide it to the defence team.
Rosmah brought the matter up for appeal after the High Court dismissed her application for Sri Ram’s appointment letter on August 19 last year.
The appointment letter was not dated on or before November 15, 2018, the day when Rosmah was charged in court, and was not signed by the then attorney-general Tan Sri Tommy Thomas.
Instead, the letter was dated July 8 last year and signed by the current Attorney-General Tan Sri Idrus Harun.
On February 18, 2021, Judge Mohamed Zaini ordered Rosmah to enter her defence on all three corruption charges and fixed nine days, namely on June 9, 10, 15, 16,17, 22, and 23, and July 12 and 15, to hear the evidence from Rosmah and other defence witnesses. – Bernama, May 28, 2021
