Rosmah’s lawyer, Jagjit Singh, said Rosmah filed an application to recuse the judge, claiming she had lost confidence in his impartiality due to a “real danger of bias”.
He said the judge was originally scheduled to deliver his judgment on July 7, 2022, but postponed it to Sept 1, saying that the written judgment was not ready.
“However, the defence sighted the two draft judgments that were prepared in June and July on the judge’s instructions to the research unit,” Jagjit told the court during the recusal appeal.
Jagjit, assisted by lawyer Akberdin Abdul Kader, said the 71-page draft judgments later went viral on social media.
“The appellant was shocked to read that the unknown author(s) of the drafts had concluded that the defence failed to raise reasonable doubt or rebut the presumption of corruption,” he said.
He added that the chief registrar of the Federal Court, in a press statement dated Aug 27, 2022, did not deny the existence or contents of the draft judgments.
However, the prosecution claimed that the drafts were merely opinions.
“Whatever label is used, the drafts amounted to a finding that my client was guilty as charged,” Jagjit said.
He also argued that the judge’s conduct violated the Judges’ Code of Ethics.
Jagjit said Rosmah had submitted a complaint to Chief Justice Tengku Maimun Tuan Mat, but was advised to raise the issue during her appeal.
“Based on the documentary evidence, there is an irresistible inference of a real danger of bias in convicting the appellant,” he said in addressing a three-member bench chaired by Justice Ahmad Zaidi Ibrahim. The panel also included Justices Azman Abdullah and Noorin Badaruddin.
Deputy public prosecutors K Mangai and P Sarulatha appeared for the prosecution.
The hearing has been adjourned to June 25. Rosmah is seeking to have her conviction set aside and a retrial ordered.
On Sept 1, 2022, Justice Zaini Mazlan, now a Court of Appeal judge, dismissed a last-minute application by Rosmah to stop him from presiding over her case.
Rosmah sought to disqualify Zaini after a purported draft of his judgment was published by the late blogger, Raja Petra Kamarudin.
She said the judge should not preside over the case since she had lost confidence in him.
Zaini however dismissed the application and convicted her of soliciting RM187.5 million from former Jepak Holdings Sdn Bhd managing director Saidi Abang Samsudin through her former aide, Rizal Mansor, as an inducement to help the company secure the solar project.
She was also convicted of receiving bribes amounting to RM5 million from Saidi, through Rizal, at Seri Perdana in Putrajaya on Dec 20, 2016, and receiving RM1.5 million from Saidi at Jalan Langgak Duta on Sept 7, 2017.
Zaini sentenced her to 10-year jail terms for each of the three charges but ordered that they run concurrently. He also ordered Rosmah to pay a RM970 million fine.
The court ordered Rosmah to serve another 10 years in prison after her initial sentence if she failed to pay the fine.
Zaini allowed Romsah bail pending the outcome of her appeal.