Rosmah was accused of committing the offences between Dec 4, 2013 and Jun 8, 2017 and was charged on Oct 4, 2018 at the Sessions Court, before the case was transferred to the High Court.
She had been charged with money laundering charges in accordance with Section 4(1)(a) of the Anti-Money Laundering, Anti-Terrorism Financing and Proceeds of Unlawful Activities Act 2001.
For the tax evasion charges, she allegedly failed to submit income statements for the years of assessment from 2013 to 2017 to the Director-General of the Inland Revenue, under Section 77(1) of the Income Tax Act 1967 without any valid reasons.
Sinar Harian reported that she allegedly committed all the offences at Affin Bank Berhad located at Jalan Ampang between Dec 4, 2013 and Jun 8, 2017 and at the IRB office in Government Complex from May 1, 2014 to May 1, 2018.
The New Straits Times reported that Malaysia’s Attorney-General Chambers (AGC) will be filing an appeal in response to Rosmah’s acquittal.
She filed the application to strike out the charges in September last year, with the hearing commencing on Dec 12 of the same year following partial proceedings in which two witnesses had testified.
On Dec 13, Rosmah had sent three representation letters to the AGC in her bid to quash all 17 charges, reported the New Straits Times. She had previously submitted two similar applications on May 3 and Aug 13 last year.
Besides this case, Rosmah has filed an appeal against her conviction and sentence involving a hybrid solar project worth RM1.25 billion.
Judge Mohamed Zaini Mazlan had previously sentenced her to 10 years in prison and a fine of RM970 million.
On Sep 1, 2022, Rosmah was found guilty of soliciting RM187.5 million in bribes from contractor Saidi Abang Samsudin in 2016 and 2017 so that his company Jepak Holdings could secure a RM1.25 billion government project to supply solar energy to 369 rural schools in Sarawak state.
Separately, the Malaysian High Court last month had also dropped corruption charges linked to the multibillion-dollar 1Malaysia Development Berhad (1MDB) scandal filed against her husband Najib.
Najib and former treasury secretary-general Irwan Serigar Abdullah were charged in 2018 with six counts of criminal breach of trust involving government funds worth RM6.6 billion which officials have said were related to a settlement agreement between 1MDB and Abu Dhabi state fund International Petroleum Investment Company.
