KUALA LUMPUR (June 27): Datin Seri Rosmah Mansor's appeal to remove High Court Judge Justice Mohamed Zaini Mazlan from presiding over her money laundering and tax evasion case is set for case management on July 14 in the Court of Appeal.
Rosmah's counsel Datuk Geethan Ram Vincent confirmed this when contacted by theedgemarkets.com.
Justice Zaini had dismissed Rosmah's first application on Dec 14 and the second on April 25. Rosmah is appealing both of these decisions.
In her recusal application, the wife of former prime minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak claimed that there is a risk of the High Court judge being prejudiced and biased against her, given that he had presided over her RM1.25 billion solar hybrid graft trial and other matters related to her family, namely the 1Malaysia Development Bhd (1MDB) audit report tampering trial and the 1MDB forfeiture case.
In dismissing the application on April 25, the High Court judge said Rosmah's second application was similar to the first. Justice Zaini said that the 1MDB audit report tampering trial did not concern Rosmah at all. He had, however, dismissed the case against Rosmah and her family in the 1MDB forfeiture matter.
In relation to her tax evasion and money laundering case, Rosmah faces 17 charges involving RM7.1 million that was transferred to her personal bank account between 2013 and 2017. The charges were framed under the Anti-Money Laundering, Anti-Terrorism Financing and Proceeds of Unlawful Activities Act 2001.
On the first eight counts, she is charged with money laundering by directly engaging in a transaction involving proceeds of unlawful activities amounting to RM1.1 million that were deposited into her account.
On the ninth to 12th counts, she is charged with directly engaging in 227 transactions involving proceeds of unlawful activities totalling RM6 million, which were also deposited into her account.
On the 13th to 17th counts, she is charged with engaging in money laundering by failing to file a return on the sum that was deposited into her account as required under the Income Tax Act 1967.
Separately, Justice Zaini is set to deliver his decision on her RM1.25 billion solar hybrid graft trial on July 7.