Ad hoc prosecutor Gopal Sri Ram told High Court judge Mohamed Zaini Mazlan that the prosecution wanted to play the recording to enable former education minister Mahdzir Khalid, who is a witness at the trial, to identify the voices of the two individuals involved.
However Rosmah’s lawyer Akberdin Abdul Kader objected to the prosecution’s move and said that the defence was “taken by surprise”.
“First and foremost, the authenticity of this recording must be established.
“They should inform us beforehand and tender the recording two weeks in advance,” he said, adding that the defence team was only given a copy of the audio recording today.
Sri Ram responded that the prosecution would tender the recording through the investigating officer, Noornabilah Mohd Aziman, who is due to testify later.
Zaini then said that the court would allow the audio recording to be played.
“I will allow it to be played now only for identification purposes,” the judge said amid continuous protests from Akberdin and co-counsel Jagjit Singh.
The court then heard the first 10 seconds of the recording where Rosmah was heard telling Najib, “Can I advise you something?” and Najib telling his wife that he needed to get into the car first.
Mahdzir then told the court that the woman’s voice in the recording was that of Rosmah while the man’s voice belonged to Najib.
Previously, Malaysian Anti Corruption Commission (MACC) chief commissioner Latheefa Koya released nine audio recordings purportedly featuring Najib, Rosmah and several officials in discussions over dealings linked to 1MDB and SRC International.
Latheefa said the call from Rosmah to Najib was made about a week after the US Department of Justice (DoJ) had filed a civil forfeiture suit to seize US$1 billion believed to be embezzled from 1MDB.
It was previously reported that Rosmah, in the recording, had seemed unhappy over former MACC chief Abu Kassim Mohamed who had come out with several statements and took photographs with “Pak Lah” or Abdullah Ahmad Badawi, and who appeared to make Najib and Rosmah look like “villains”.
“They make it seem like he (Abu Kassim) is the hero and you are the villain. And all of these five people (in Najib’s office), can’t they see that their priority is you?” she had asked Najib.
Najib calmly replied that he had already started to take action on the matter.
“I allowed Azwan to make a statement and his impact is good already,” he said. He was believed to have been referring to (former) Umno Youth deputy chief, Khairul Azwan Harun.
The hearing for Rosmah corruption’s case continues on Feb 11.
Rosmah is facing three counts of corruption charges, for allegedly soliciting RM187.5 million from Saidi Abang Samsudin, the managing director of Jepak Holdings Sdn Bhd, as an inducement to help the company secure the Hybrid Photovoltaic Solar System Integrated Project and Maintenance and Operation of Genset/Diesel for 369 rural schools in Sarawak, worth a total of RM1.25 billion through direct negotiation from the education ministry.
She was also accused of receiving bribes amounting to RM6.5 million from Saidi between 2016 and 2017.