Kuala lumpur: The Court of Appeal today approved Datin Seri Rosmah Mansor's request for a temporary release of her passport, allowing her to travel to Singapore to visit her daughter. This permission is valid until April 30.

According to BERNAMA News Agency, Rosmah's lawyer, Datuk Jagjit Singh, filed the application during an online session before a panel of three judges: Datuk Azmi Ariffin, Datuk Noorin Badaruddin, and Datuk Meor Hashimi Abdul Hamid. Justice Azmi, leading the bench, agreed to the request as Deputy Public Prosecutor K. Mangai, representing the prosecution, did not oppose the motion.

Jagjit Singh highlighted that Rosmah, the spouse of former Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak, requested the passport release to facilitate her travel to Singapore from February 1 to April 30. During this period, Rosmah plans to return to Kuala Lumpur between February 20 and 26 for her appeal hearing on February 25. This hearing concerns her petition to recuse Judge Datuk Mohamed Zaini Mazlan, now a Court of Appeal judge, from presiding over her corruption trial related to the hybrid solar project.

Rosmah filed the recusal motion just before Judge Mohamed Zaini was set to announce his verdict in her corruption case on September 1, 2022. She claimed that a draft judgment allegedly prepared by an external party had been leaked prior to the official ruling.

On the same day, Judge Mohamed Zaini convicted the 74-year-old of three corruption charges, sentencing her to 10 years in prison and imposing a fine of RM970 million, with a 30-year prison term as an alternative. Rosmah subsequently appealed the decision at the Court of Appeal.

Despite her conviction, Rosmah received a stay of execution on both the prison sentence and the fine, pending the outcome of her appeal. She faces charges of soliciting RM187.5 million and receiving RM6.5 million in bribes from Saidi Abang Samsudin, the former managing director of Jepak Holdings Sdn Bhd.