KUALA LUMPUR – Datin Seri Rosmah Mansor has submitted yet another representation letter to the Attorney-General’s Chamber (AGC) to have all 17 charges of money laundering and tax evasion against her dropped.
Deputy public prosecutor Ahmad Akram Gharib confirmed to high court judge Muniandy Kannyappan that the prosecution had received the letter yesterday.
However, he said, the prosecution would need some time to consider the letter’s contents.
This is not the first time Rosmah submitted a representation letter to AGC to have her charges reviewed or dropped, as she has submitted once on May 2 and again on August 18.
However, there is still no news on the outcome of the previous letters.
During today’s proceedings, the court was scheduled to hear submissions from both parties on Rosmah’s application to have her 17 criminal charges struck out.
Earlier, defence lawyer Amer Hamzah Arshad submitted to the court that the charges against Rosmah are defective and bad in law, as the money laundering charges do not touch the threshold of the definition of ‘money laundering’.
This, he said, was because the money laundering charges against Rosmah only indicate that she was depositing money into her own account, instead of having money deposited into the said account by other individuals.
He argued that to ensure an offence fits the ‘money laundering’ definition, it must possess elements of money transaction between two individuals.
“There is no transaction disclosed in the charges, except for one made by applicant (Rosmah) into her own account. (Therefore), we couldn’t be certain as to what is the actual offence against the applicant,” he said.
Nearly two hours into his submission, however, Amer then informed the court that he was feeling unwell.
Muniandy proceeded to adjourn today’s hearing, and fixed January 16 and 17 to continue.
Rosmah was charged on October 4, 2018, with 12 money laundering charges amounting to RM7.09 million. She was also charged with five more counts of failing to declare her income to the Inland Revenue Board (LHDN).
The former prime minister’s wife, who had just turned 72 on December 10 (last Sunday), was accused of committing the offences between December 4, 2013 and June 8, 2017.
She pleaded not guilty to all charges.
On September 1, 2022, Rosmah was found guilty of three corruption charges involving a RM1.25 billion project to supply solar hybrid energy to rural schools in Sarawak.
She was sentenced to 10 years in jail for each charge, where the jail sentences are ordered to run concurrently as well as a RM970 million fine, in default of 30 years jail.
However, she was granted a stay of sentence execution, pending her appeal at the Court of Appeal. – December 13, 2023