KUALA LUMPUR: Datin Seri Rosmah Mansor’s application hearing for High Court judge Justice Mohamed Zaini Mazlan to recuse himself from presiding over her money laundering and tax evasion trial has been postponed to Feb 3 as her lead counsel is Covid-19 positive.

       Justice Mohamed Zaini set the new date after Rosmah’s lawyer Azrul Zulkifli Stork informed the court that lead counsel Datuk Geethan Ram Vincent had tested positive for Covid-19 on Jan 17 and was ordered to undergo self-quarantine for 10 days until Jan 26.

       According to Azrul, Rosmah was also undergoing quarantine until Jan 25 as she was in close contact with her lead counsel.

       “Also those who came in close contact with Geethan are other lawyers (in the team), namely Datuk Firoz Hussein (Firoz Hussein Ahmad Jamaluddin) who is undergoing self-quarantine in Kota Kinabalu until Jan 25, while lawyers Reza Rahim and PB Rajivan Nambiar are under quarantine until Jan 24.

       “Therefore, we apply for today’s proceedings to be vacated,” said Azrul.

       Azrul said a letter on the application to vacate the hearing was submitted to the court on Jan 20, Bernama reported.

       On Rosmah’s application to disqualify former Federal Court judge Datuk Seri Gopal Sri Ram from acting as a senior deputy public prosecutor in her money laundering trial, Azrul said his team would file the application today.

       Meanwhile, deputy public prosecutor Poh Yih Tinn said the prosecution had received a letter from the defence regarding the postponement of the hearing but said that his team was ready if the court decided to continue with the proceedings yesterday.

       Rosmah, the wife of former prime minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak, is facing 12 money laundering charges involving RM7,097,750 and five counts of failure to declare her income to the Inland Revenue Board.

       The offences were allegedly committed at Affin Bank Berhad, Bangunan Getah Asli branch, Jalan Ampang here between Dec 4, 2013 and June 8, 2017, and at the IRB at Kompleks Bangunan Kerajaan, Jalan Tuanku Abdul Halim here between May 1, 2014 and May 1, 2018.