KUALA LUMPUR: Datin Seri Rosmah Mansor's corruption hearing today was vacated as her MySejahtera status is still orange due to her close contact with a positive Covid-19 patient.
Judge Mohamed Zaini Mazlan made the ruling after Rosmah's lead counsel Datuk Jagjit Singh informed the court on the latest development.
Rosmah was present but could not enter as court complex's standard operating procedure (SOP) allowed only people with blue MySejahtera status to enter the building.
Rosmah who celebrates her 70th birthday today, stayed inside her black Proton Perdana which was parked inside the court premises.
At the onset of the proceeding, Jagjit said Rosmah's status was confirmed by the court registrar who went down to check his client's MySejahtera.
Deputy public prosecutor Datuk Seri Gopal Sri Ram then suggested the court to conduct a hybrid proceeding where Rosmah can continue to give evidence via online conference.
"I believe we can continue this proceeding via the Zoom application where Rosmah can continue to give evidence from her lawyer's office supervised by a prosecution team," he said.
However, Zaini disagreed with the suggestion stating that he would like to be more cautious at this stage of trial.
"I have thought about that and I have gone through the relevant statute.
"There doesn't seem to be any provision about it and I'd just like to be more cautious.
"We do not want to derail the whole trial just because we think it is okay at this stage," he said.
Zaini later fixed additional dates for the trial on Dec 13, 23, 24, Jan 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, and Feb 4 next year.
Rosmah is on trial for soliciting RM187.5 million and two counts of receiving bribes of RM6.5 million from Jepak Holdings Sdn Bhd's former managing director Saidi Abang Samsudin, through her former special officer Datuk Rizal Mansor.
The 70-year-old was accused of committing the offence between Jan 2016 and Sept 2017. She purportedly received the money in exchange for helping the company obtain a RM1.25 billion project to provide solar energy to 369 rural schools in Sarawak.