KUALA LUMPUR: Datin Seri Rosmah Mansor has been acquitted by the High Court of 17 charges involving RM7mil in her money laundering and tax evasion case after six years.
Justice K. Muniandy made the order of acquittal after allowing Rosmah's application to quash her charges on grounds that they were flawed.
In his brief grounds of judgment, Justice Muniandy noted that the charges against Rosmah only alleged that the monies were deposited into her account.
"The conduct of the accused is not disclosed in the charges.
"The unlawful activity is also not disclosed but the proceeds of unlawful activity have appeared from nowhere.
"Without those elements, what is available on the charge is only an act of deposit of a sum of monies into the bank account, which by itself is not an offence known to law," he said.
Justice Muniandy stated that, as such, the charges did not meet the requirement of proceeds of unlawful activity since there were no transactions or dealings involved, as envisaged by Act 613, for it to amount to a money laundering offence involving proceeds of an unlawful activity.
The judge explained that it is settled law that a charge should be drawn so that the accused knows exactly and with particularity and specificity the case she has to meet, without being left guessing as to which of the laws she has offended.
"In the circumstances, an appropriate order of this court has to be a discharge amounting to an acquittal," he said here on Thursday (Dec 19).
When met later, Deputy Public Prosecutor Ahmad Akram Gharib said that the prosecution would be filing an appeal.
Rosmah had filed to quash her 12 charges of money laundering involving more than RM7mil and five charges of failing to declare her personal income to the Inland Revenue Board (LHDN) on Oct 4, 2020.
In 2018, Rosmah, 72, was charged with five counts of allegedly engaging in money laundering by failing to furnish a return on the RM7,097,750 income deposited into her bank account, which she was required to do under the Income Tax Act 1967.
The five charges were framed under Section 4(1)(a) of the Anti-Money Laundering, Anti-Terrorism Financing and Proceeds of Unlawful Activities Act 2001.
Rosmah also faced 12 counts of engaging directly in transactions involving proceeds of unlawful activity by causing RM7,097,750 to be deposited into her bank account.
She allegedly committed all the offences at Affin Bank Berhad, Natural Rubber Building Branch, Jalan Ampang between Dec 4, 2013, and June 8, 2017, and at the LHDN office in Government Complex, Jalan Tuanku Abdul Halim, from May 1, 2014, to May 1, 2018.
