PUTRAJAYA: Datin Seri Rosmah Mansor's appeal to quash her 10-year jail sentence and RM970 million fine for corruption involving the RM1.25 billion hybrid solar project for 396 rural schools in Sarawak will be heard in October.
The Court of Appeal today fixed Oct 23 and 24 for case management before deputy registrar Noor Firdaus Rosli.
Rosmah's counsel, Datuk Akberdin Abdul Kader, also informed the court that he would be submitting a letter to request that the appeal panel excludes judges who had presided over any of his client's previous court cases.
Deputy Public Prosecutor Poh Yih Tinn confirmed this when contacted.
On Sept 1, 2022, the then High Court judge Mohamed Zaini Mazlan convicted Rosmah, the wife of former Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak, on three charges of corruption and sentenced her to 10 years in jail for each of the charges with the prison terms to run concurrently.
Mohamed Zaini, who is now a court of appeal judge, also fined her RM970 million, in default 30 years' jail.
The High Court, however, granted her a stay of execution of the imprisonment term and fine pending her appeal to the Court of Appeal.
Rosmah subsequently filed an appeal against her conviction and sentence on Sept 2.
She is also appealing against the High Court's decision to turn down her application to disqualify Mohamed Zaini from hearing and deciding on her case.
Rosmah, 71, was charged with soliciting RM187.5 million from former Jepak Holdings Sdn Bhd managing director Saidi Abang Samsudin, through her then-aide Datuk Rizal Mansor, as an inducement to help the company secure the project.
She was also accused of two counts of receiving bribes amounting to RM6.5 million from Saidi between 2016 and 2017.