KUALA LUMPUR: Datin Seri Rosmah Mansor has appointed a new defence team to represent her in her graft case involving RM187.5 million relating to the solar hybrid project in rural schools in Sarawak.
Her previous lawyers, Datuk K. Kumaraendran and Datuk Geethan Ram Vincent, have been replaced with Datuk Akberdin Abdul Kader and Datuk Jagjit Singh.
This was informed by deputy public prosecutor Ahmad Akram Gharib during the case mention before Sessions Court judge Azman Ahmad on Monday.
Akram said Monday was supposedly fixed for the prosecution to submit on an application for Rosmah’s case to be jointly tried with her ex-aide Datuk Rizal Mansor, who was charged with four counts of soliciting money for Rosmah and for himself, as well as receiving bribes in relation to the project.
He said, however the new defence team needed time to go over the documents of the case.
“Rizal’s counsel have filed for his case to be transferred to the High Court and the mention of the case will be up this Wednesday,” he said.
Meanwhile, Akberdin informed the court that the defence team needed to go over the documents before responding to the prosecution’s application for the joint trial.
The court fixed Jan 11 next year for mention.
On Nov 15, Rosmah was charged with two counts of soliciting RM187.5 million and receiving RM1.5 million for the project to provide electricity to schools in 369 rural schools in Sarawak.
On the first count, the wife of former prime minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak was alleged to have solicited RM187.5 million through Rizal, which is 15 percent of the value of a contract, from Saidi Abang Samsudin, the managing director of Jepak Holdings Sdn Bhd.
The amount was allegedly solicited by Rosmah as an inducement to help the company secure a tender through direct negotiation from the Education Ministry, worth RM1,250,000,000, for a solar hybrid project for 369 rural schools in Sarawak or Hybrid Photovoltaic Solar System Integrated Project and Maintenance and Operation of Genset/Diesel.
The offence was allegedly committed at Lygon Café, G-24, Ground Floor, Sunway Putra Mall 100, Jalan Putra, Chow Kit, here between March and April, 2016.
On the second charge, Rosmah was alleged to have received RM1.5 million from the same person as a reward for helping the company obtain the same project at a premise at No 11, Jalan Langgak Duta, Taman Duta, here on Sept 7, last year.
Both charges, framed under Section 16 (a) (A) of the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC) Act 2009, carries a jail term of up to 20 years with a fine of up to five times the value of the graft or RM10,000, whichever is higher, upon conviction.