KUALA LUMPUR: The High Court has dismissed Datin Seri Rosmah Mansor's application to adjourn her case for her lawyers to prepare their arguments to recuse trial judge Mohamed Zaini Mazlan, ahead of his verdict on her corruption cases.
Zaini ordered Rosmah's counsels Datuk Jagjit Singh and Datuk Akberdin Abdul Kader to immediately submit their arguments on why he should be recused.
The judge said it was unnecessary to adjourn hearing of the application, pointing out to Jagjit in no uncertain terms that it was the defence which had filed a certificate of urgency for the application to be heard.
"You cited 15 grounds for this application to be heard quickly.
"That is why I fixed it for today. You filed the certificate of urgency so you should be ready to proceed with it," he said, before standing down the hearing for 10 minutes to enable the lawyers to gather their thoughts.
Earlier, lead prosecutor Datuk Seri Gopal Sri Ram said the prosecution was ready to proceed with their arguments and objected to the defence's application for an adjournment.
Rosmah had filed the application to recuse Mazlan following a leaked draft judgment of her trial by blogger Raja Petra Kamarudin last week.
Rosmah, 70, is on trial over a RM1.25 billion project to supply solar hybrid energy to rural schools in Sarawak.
She is charged with soliciting RM187.5 million from former Jepak Holdings Sdn Bhd managing director Saidi Abang Samsudin, through her then aide Datuk Rizal Mansor, as an inducement to help the company secure the project.
She is also accused of two counts of receiving bribes amounting to RM6.5 million from Saidi between 2016 and 2017.
Her trial started in 2020 and was held over 42 days of hearing, with 23 prosecution and two defence witnesses - including Rosmah, called to testify.
Rosmah's case started on Feb 5, 2020, and Zaini ordered her to enter her defence on Feb 18 last year.
The defence closed its case on Feb 23.
The prosecution is led by Sri Ram, assisted by Deputy Public Prosecutors Ahmad Akram Gharib, Mustafa P Kunyalam and Poh Yin Tinn.
