KUALA LUMPUR, Feb 17 — Former prime minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak will be present tomorrow when the High Court delivers its decision on whether his wife Datin Seri Rosmah Mansor will have to enter her defence in a corruption trial over a project for the supply of electricity to rural schools in Sarawak.

Lawyer Tan Sri Muhammad Shafee Abdullah today informed High Court judge Collin Lawrence Sequerah that his client Najib wanted to attend the court proceedings in Rosmah’s case tomorrow first, before attending his own trial.

“I’m also making an application because my client wants to support his wife,” he told the judge who is hearing Najib’s own corruption trial over 1Malaysia Development Berhad’s (1MDB) funds.

Later, when met at the court complex, Shafee explained to reporters that the judge had agreed to Najib’s request.

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“And then I stood up and said my client would like to be in support, emotional support when the wife receives the judgment for the defence to be called or not,” he told reporters.

Shafee said the judge had initially wanted Najib’s 1MDB trial to begin at 9.30am, but that he had told the judge that the Rosmah case proceedings before High Court judge Mohamed Zaini Mazlan would start at 9.30am.

Shafee noted that the judge then said the 1MDB trial tomorrow would start at 10am or whenever the Rosmah case proceedings end.

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To ensure a fair trial, the accused would have to be present during said trial.

When asked if Najib would be allowed to attend court proceedings tomorrow in Rosmah’s case, Shafee told reporters: “Yes, because no evidence is given, just a decision.”

Tomorrow, the judge in Rosmah’s case will be delivering a decision on whether she can walk free or if she has to enter her defence.File picture shows Datuk Seri Najib Razak at the Kuala Lumpur High Court February 11, 2021. — Picture by Miera Zulyana
File picture shows Datuk Seri Najib Razak at the Kuala Lumpur High Court February 11, 2021. — Picture by Miera Zulyana

Rosmah’s trial started on February 5, 2020. That was also the first time that Rosmah and Najib were at the Kuala Lumpur Courts Complex on the same day for hearings for their separate trials, which were held in two different courtrooms both on the fifth floor. Najib was attending his trial over SRC International Sdn Bhd funds at that time.

Najib was sighted briefly in Rosmah’s courtroom on February 5, 2020, but his presence was not brought to the judge’s attention then.

On February 6, 2020 which was also the second day of Rosmah’s trial, Najib was seen entering the courtroom while a prosecution witness was testifying, with the prosecution then immediately informing the judge that it would not be proper for Najib to remain in the courtroom then as he could be a potential witness in Rosmah’s case since his statement was recorded during investigations.

Justice Zaini had then requested Najib to leave the courtroom, with the latter then leaving just mere minutes after entering the courtroom. On that day (February 6, 2020), Najib was not legally required to be present in court as his trials were not ongoing then.

Just before Shafee stood up  today to inform the 1MDB trial judge of Najib’s intention of showing up in Rosmah’s case proceedings to provide “support”, deputy public prosecutor Ahmad Akram Gharib had today also informed the judge that he and several members of the prosecution team in the 1MDB trial would also attend Rosmah’s case proceedings.

Justice Collin then noted that he understood that the prosecution had two separate teams for both the 1MDB trial and the Rosmah case, with Shafee then alerting of Najib’s intention to attend Rosmah’s proceedings first.

Under the judiciary’s new set of standard operating procedures amid the Covid-19 pandemic for the conduct of all civil and criminal cases in all courts in Malaysia from January 27, 2021 onwards, only two persons — family members, friends or acquaintances — are allowed to be with the accused in the courtroom.

Under the same set of SOPs, reporters would also not be physically present in the courtroom during any proceedings, but would instead follow the proceedings in public interest cases through either Zoom video-conferencing or a room with a “live” video feed of the courtroom. The media is expected to follow the delivery of the decision in Rosmah’s case tomorrow through a videolink room.

In a criminal trial, the prosecution would present its case by producing evidence and calling in prosecution witnesses to testify, with the court to then decide whether the prosecution has shown a prima facie case and whether the accused would then need to enter defence.

If the court decides that the prosecution has not shown a prima facie case, the accused would walk free. If the court decides that the prosecution has shown a prima facie case that would require the accused to choose whether to put up a defence, the accused can testify and call in defence witnesses, before the court decides if the accused is guilty or not guilty of the charges.

A total of 23 prosecution witnesses had last year testified in Rosmah’s corruption trial with the prosecution led by senior deputy public prosecutor Datuk Seri Gopal Sri Ram. The High Court will decide tomorrow if she has to enter defence.

In the trial, Rosmah was accused of soliciting RM187.5 million in bribes and receiving bribes totalling RM6.5 million from Jepak Holdings Sdn Bhd’s managing director Saidi Abang Samsudin in exchange for helping the company secure a RM1.25 billion contract for a solar hybrid project for the supply of electricity to 369 rural schools in Sarawak.