KUALA LUMPUR: The lead prosecutor in Datin Seri Rosmah Mansor's corruption trial today ripped into her attempt to use documents leaked by Manchester-based blogger Raja Petra Kamarudin to recuse the judge presiding over her case.
Datuk Seri Gopal Sri Ram panned the blogger, calling him a fugitive and a rogue hiding in the United Kingdom while uploading such documents.
"He is a rogue journalist and his views alter according to how he is paid... they themselves described it as trash and that's exactly what his articles are... trash," he said, while calling Judge Mohamed Zaini Mazlan to dismiss Rosmah's application for the judge to recuse himself.
On the leaked documents, Sri Ram said the main thrust of the defence's application was whether the judge's verdict on the case would be independently derived.
Touching on arguments that the leaked documents showed that these were prepared by the court research unit, he said there was nothing wrong with this.
He said it was accepted and employed by judges all over the world where research was delegated to their officers.
"The leaked documents they are referring to are not an attempt to influence the judge.
"They are opinions of the judicial law clerks from the research unit. What is troubling is the allegations they are making that Rosmah's fate has already been sealed, that we are now only waiting for the final nails to be hammered into her coffin.
"This is what they are relying on... an article by Raja Petra," he said.
Sri Ram said Rosmah had received a fair trial and it was now up to Justice Mohamed Zaini to deliver his verdict.
"We therefore pray their application for a recusal will be dismissed and your lordship will deliver the judgment which we are waiting for with bated breath," he said.
Earlier, Rosmah's lead counsel Datuk Jagjit Singh did not spare the theatrics when arguing Mohamed Zaini should recuse himself.
In making his impassioned plea, the senior counsel animatedly put forward his arguments and even threw a copy of the leaked documents involving his client's case to his seat before picking it up again.
He started his submissions by alleging that dark clouds had descended on the judiciary again after the judicial crisis in the 1990s.
He said it was obvious the author of the leaked documents had access to court materials and a verdict had already been decided.
That being the case, he said it was best if the defence just packed up and let Rosmah go to jail.
"We are saddened by what has happened... draft judgments being prepared by third parties for your lordship."
His argument prompted Mohamed Zaini to ask the lawyer if he was insinuating that the judge would use the documents to decide on the case.
However, Jagjit replied that he was just relaying to the court the perception that this could happen.
Mohamed Zaini later ruled that he would decide on Rosmah's application after the lunch break.
Rosmah, 70, is waiting for the verdict of her case where she was tried over the 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.
