KUALA LUMPUR: The trial of Datin Seri Rosmah Mansor who has been charged with money laundering and tax evasion, will begin at the High Court here on May 12 next year.
Judge Mohamed Zaini Mazlan fixed the date during case management today.
The dates are May 12, June 28, June 30, July 6 to July 7 (two days), July 27 to July 28 (two days), July 31, Aug 1 to Aug 2 (two days), Aug 11, Aug 24 to Aug 25 (two days), and Sept 7 to Sept 8 (two days).
The court also fixed Feb 20 for parties to update the outcome of Rosmah's appeal to recuse Zaini from hearing the trial at the Court of Appeal.
Rosmah, 69, had filed an appeal at the Court of Appeal to recuse Zaini from hearing her money laundering and tax evasion case, claiming a risk of the judge being prejudiced and biased against her, given that Zaini had presided over her RM1.25 billion solar hybrid graft trial.
On Sept 1, Zaini convicted Rosmah and sentenced her to 10 years' jail for each of the charges with the prison terms to run concurrently.
The judge also fined her RM970 million in default of 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.
In this trial, the wife of convicted former prime minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak is facing 12 money laundering charges amounting to about RM7 million and five counts of failing to declare her income to the Inland Revenue Board.
Deputy Public Prosecutor Poh Yih Tinn appeared for the prosecution while the accused was represented by Datuk Geethan Ram Vincent.
The prosecution would call between 13 and 14 prosecution witnesses to testify in the trial.