KUALA LUMPUR (Sept 1): As the nation braces for the verdict on Datuk Seri Najib Razak’s other half — Datin Seri Rosmah Mansor — on Thursday (Sept 1), her latest bid to disqualify High Court judge Mohamed Zaini Mazlan is expected to take the spotlight in the morning.

This follows Rosmah having thrown a spanner before the scheduled decision by filing a motion on Tuesday to recuse Zaini, the trial judge for the three graft charges against her in relation to the solar hybrid project involving 369 schools in rural Sarawak.

It is expected that the court would have to handle this motion first before deciding whether to continue in delivering the verdict.

The basis for Rosmah, who once helmed the office of the First Lady of Malaysia (FLOM) division, is based on the purported leak of the judgement for the case that was put up by an online portal over the weekend, which is now subject to police investigations.

It was the second leak concerning judicial proceedings as last week, a draft judgement involving Najib made its way and was subsequently reported to the police by the Federal Court registrar.

Najib on Aug 23 found himself serving a 12-year jail sentence and RM210 million fine, after the Federal Court affirmed the abuse of power, criminal breach of trust and money laundering charges against the former prime minister in relation to SRC International Sdn Bhd, a former subsidiary of 1Malaysia Development Bhd (1MDB).

Besides the motion, Rosmah through her lawyers from Messrs Akberdin & Co also filed a notice of appeal to appeal against the High Court decision on Tuesday, which refused to grant her leave to initiate a judicial review of the appointment of Datuk Seri Gopal Sri Ram as a senior deputy public prosecutor to lead the prosecution in the case, and to declare the trial a nullity.

Rosmah's lawyers, led by Datuk Jagjit Singh and Datuk Akberdin Abdul Kader, are expected to argue for the latest notice of motion, and also bring up the issue of the appeal against Tuesday’s decision first, while the prosecution is likely to object to it.

It remains to be seen whether Zaini would decide on the issue and continue to deliver the verdict as scheduled on Thursday.

A total of 23 witnesses — including Rosmah’s former aide Datuk Rizal Mansor, two former Ministry of Education secretaries-general, namely Tan Sri Dr Madinah Mohamad and Datuk Seri Alias Ahmad, along with former education minister Datuk Seri Mahdzir Khalid — have testified for the prosecution in the trial.

Upon her defence being called, Rosmah, along with former FLOM division director Datuk Seri Siti Azizah Sheikh Abod, testified.

Rosmah, 70, is accused of soliciting through Rizal RM187.5 million of the RM1.25 billion solar hybrid project that was awarded to Jepak Holdings Sdn Bhd between January and April 2016.

She also claimed trial to two charges of purportedly receiving RM5 million and another RM1.5 million — from former Jepak Holdings managing director Saidi Abang Samsudin — at her private residence in Jalan Langgak Duta and then Najib’s official residence in Seri Perdana between Dec 20, 2016 and Sept 7, 2017.

The Edge would be bringing the proceedings before Zaini’s court live. Click/tap here to follow it here.

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Facing a verdict, Rosmah files another application to recuse judge in solar hybrid graft trial