KUALA LUMPUR (April 25): Datin Seri Rosmah Mansor has failed in her second attempt to recuse High Court Judge Justice Mohamed Zaini Mazlan from presiding over her money laundering and tax evasion case.
Justice Zaini, in dismissing the application on Monday (April 25), said Rosmah's second application was similar to the first one, which he dismissed on Dec 14.
"[This application] is considerably based on the first application. Namely, the fact that I am the presiding judge in the solar case. The applicant, however, has now sought to include two other cases that I have presided over — the 1Malaysia Development Bhd (1MDB) forfeiture case and the 1MDB audit [report tampering] case.
"What the applicant has done in including these two additional cases is to add more colour to her application. In essence, however, the grounds submitted are similar to the [previous application] as it pertains to my involvement and decisions made in these cases," the judge explained.
Justice Zaini said these cases should have been included in the first recusal application if Rosmah felt they were pertinent to her application as she already knew about them.
"Public interest demands that there must be a finality to litigation, in that parties should not be allowed to litigate the same issues over and over again," the judge added.
Nevertheless, Rosmah's lawyers applied for a stay of the application as she intends to appeal against the decision, which Justice Zaini granted.
As such, the trial date for the start of Rosmah's tax evasion and money laundering case this Thursday has been vacated.
During submissions on March 2 for Rosmah's second bid to recuse Justice Zaini, the defence argued there was a danger of bias with Justice Zaini presiding over the case, given that he had presided over other cases involving Rosmah and that it might influence his mind in the current case.
The lawyers were referring to Rosmah's ongoing RM1.25 billion solar hybrid graft trial and the 1MDB audit report tampering trial involving her husband, former prime minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak.
Justice Zaini also heard the 1MDB forfeiture case involving Rosmah, Najib and several members of her family, which Rosmah also cited as a case to support her recusal application.
In his reply to the defence's argument, senior Deputy Public Prosecutor Datuk Seri Gopal Sri Ram contended that the application was "fatally flawed" and an abuse of process as it was similar to the first failed application.
In delivering his decision on Monday, Justice Zaini also said he was "bemused" that the 1MDB forfeiture case was cited as he had dismissed the case against Rosmah and her family. As for the audit report tampering trial, he added that the case does not concern Rosmah at all.
In her tax evasion and money laundering case, Rosmah is facing 17 charges involving RM7.1 million allegedly 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.
Under the first eight charges, she is accused of being involved in money laundering by directly engaging in a transaction involving proceeds of unlawful activities amounting to RM1.1 million that were deposited into her account.
For the ninth to the 12th charges, Rosmah is alleged to have directly engaged 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 accused of 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.
Meanwhile, the court also set May 24 for case management of Rosmah's application to recuse former Federal Court judge Sri Ram from prosecuting in the case. She applied for the recusal in January this year.