It appears that Datin Seri Rosmah Mansor, wife of former Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak, is currently still in Singapore, despite court orders to return to Malaysia by 21 November.
This information comes following a report by Berita Harian, which revealed that she had failed to show up at her appeal proceeding today (2 December).
At the beginning of the proceedings, Justice Hanipah Farikullah, who led the three-judge panel, shared that she did not see Rosmah in court and that the panel had not received early notice for the extension of her trip to Singapore.
Instead, they received a letter from Rosmah’s lawyer, 10 minutes before the proceedings began, informing them that she will be returning to Malaysia on 6 December.
“The letter states that your client will return on 6 December, while the court order states that she must return by 21 November. We are relying on a court order, if there is a reason to extend the travel period, you must state it to the court”, she said.
Rosmah’s lawyer, Datuk Jagjit Singh, explained that the incident was in view of the changes in quarantine rules according to the Vaccination Travel Route (VTL) between Malaysia and Singapore.
Jagjit admitted that his client had not complied with court’s orders to return to Malaysia and that the incident was unintentional. He also took full responsibility for her actions.
No arrest warrants for Rosmah though
The Court of Appeal will not be issuing an arrest warrant against Rosmah and is instead giving her an opportunity to appear on Monday (6 December) for the appeal proceedings, despite objections from the public prosecutor.
“We are considering the submissions of both parties on the issue of issuing an arrest warrant for failing to attend today’s proceedings and at the same time, we take note of the lawyer’s explanation that he overlooked to advise his client.”
“We also take note that to this day, the appellant (Rosmah) has never failed to appear in court at trial proceedings against her in the High Court. After consideration, we use our discretion to refrain from issuing an arrest warrant against her and provide an opportunity for the appellant to appear in court (on Monday) as promised by the counsel”, Hanipah added.
Recently, the Kuala Lumpur High Court approved Rosmah’s application to have her passport returned for a trip to Singapore to visit her daughter and newborn grandchild. They ordered her to return to Malaysia by 21 November, and to return her passport to the court by 6 December.
What do you think of the court’s decision to refrain from issuing an arrest warrant against Rosmah? Do feel free to share in the comment section.
