KUALA LUMPUR: The lead prosecutor in Datin Seri Rosmah Mansor's money laundering and tax evasion case today accused the former prime minister's wife of abusing the process of law after she again questioned the validity of his appointment to act as a prosecutor against her.
Datuk Seri Gopal Sri Ram said Rosmah's application to get rid of him as a prosecutor was an abuse because the validity of his appointment had already been decided not only by the High Court but also the Court of Appeal (COA).
"It is an abuse. It is an application by the same accused on the same grounds.
"We already have a COA decision affirming the High Court decision (on the validity of his appointment)," he said objecting to Rosmah's application to disqualify him as a prosecutor in the latest trial she is facing.
However, immediately after Sri Ram's strongly worded objection against Rosmah's application, her lawyer Datuk Firoz Hussein Ahmad Jamaluddin countered by saying that the Deputy Public Prosecutor (DPP) should not use such a word to describe his client's application.
"It is an issue of law we are arguing. This court should not be bound by a decision which was made in another case (involving Rosmah)," he said.
Earlier, another of Rosmah's counsel - Datuk Geethan Ram Vincent - questioned the validity of Sri Ram's fiat to lead the prosecution against his client.
He said Sri Ram's letter of appointment as an ad hoc DPP specifically mentioned two cases involving Rosmah but not this one involving the money laundering and tax evasion charges.
However, Sri Ram said the first part of the appointment letter clearly spelled out the wide ranging powers to prosecute given to him by the Attorney General's Chambers (AGC).
High Court Judge Mohamed Zaini Mazlan later fixed Jan 24 to hear the defence applications to disqualify Sri Ram and also to recuse him as a judge, afresh.
Rosmah, 70, is facing 12 charges of money laundering involving RM7.09 million and five counts of failure to declare her income to the Inland Revenue Board (IRB).
She was accused of committing the offences between Dec 4, 2013 and June 8, 2017.