KUALA LUMPUR: The money laundering and tax evasion charges involving more than RM7 million against Datin Seri Rosmah Mansor were carried out in accordance with the stipulated written law.
Deputy Public Prosecutor Poh Yih Tinn said Rosmah's reasons for applying to dismiss all 17 charges against her did not reflect the correct legal position.
"The Income Tax Act 1976 (ITA 1967) does not prohibit her prosecution.
"The issue of whether the subject matter of the charges is a matter to be determined according to Section 4 of the Act and not dependent on directives made by the Inland Revenue Board (IRB).
"I also deny the applicant's contention that she had been denied her substantive and constitutional right to be treated fairly.
"Her (Rosmah) claim is not supported by valid reasons," he said in his affidavit in reply.
The wife of the former prime minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak is seeking to quash all charges on grounds that the charges are defective, premature, and inconclusive.
She claimed that there was no order, directive, request, or demand indicating that the amounts in those charges are subjected to tax payment under the ITA 1967.
Rosmah also asserted that she has the substantive right to refer the question of whether the contested amounts are subject to taxation to the SCIT, a right that has been denied to her in this case.
High Court Judge K. Muniandy set Dec 13 to hear the application.
Rosmah is facing 12 charges of money laundering involving RM7,097,750 and five charges of failing to declare her income to the IRB.
She is accused of committing the offences between Dec 4, 2013, and June 8, 2017.
The trial which commenced on Aug 24, saw the first prosecution witness testify that a total of RM1,098,200 was deposited into her bank account in a span of four years.
Affin Bank CDM assistant manager Nor Ashikin Abdullah said the funds were remitted in stages into Rosmah's account between 2014 and 2017.
Earlier, Deputy Public Prosecutor Ahmad Akram Gharib in his opening statement contended that the accused received millions of ringgit despite being unemployed.
He said Rosmah also never disclosed to the Inland Revenue Board (IRB) about the monies she received.
Akram said the accused used the services of Seri Perdana Complex residential house manager Roslan Sohari to make these deposits on her behalf.
The monies, he said, were subsequently utilised by the accused to pay telephone and credit card bills incurred by the accused and members of her family.