[ad_1]
PUTRAJAYA: A senior lawyer said that four former directors of Genneva Sdn Bhd have the right to know the reasons for their conviction by the Court of Appeal for illegal deposit of more than RM100 million and money laundering charges.
Muhammad Shafee Abdullah said the last appeals court in 2018 did not issue a written sentence when it found them guilty of 154 counts of both crimes.
“Supreme court justices are expected to write sentences, especially when they overrule lower court acquittals,” Shafee said.
He said that the importance of making written grounds available was emphasized by former Supreme Court Chief Arifin Zakaria in one of his Federal Court rulings.
He said this when he submitted to a preliminary objection raised by the prosecution following a request from Ng Poh Weng, Marcus Yee Yuen Seng, Chin Wai Leong and Liew Chee Wah to conduct “review after review” of a judgment of the Court of Justice. Appeal last year. .
Shafee further said that an appeals court in 2017 allowed the prosecution’s appeal to overturn the acquittal and instead found them guilty of the charges.
However, just before imposing the sentence, the court reduced the original 224 charges to 154.
“Seventy counts were dropped and the remaining 154 counts were not read to them before sentencing.
“The prosecution says it is purely administrative, but we believe it is illegal,” Shafee said.
He said the defendants could not walk away without knowing the charges for which they were convicted.
He said that Section 105 of the 1995 Rules of the Court of Appeals allowed the court to use its inherent powers to review its decision in order to prevent an injustice or an abuse of process.
“Our request for a second review of last year’s Court of Appeals decision is rare, but should be allowed in the interest of justice,” he said.
Deputy Prosecutor Umar Saifuddin Jaaffar said the request should be dismissed as it would open the floodgates for others to review the Court of Appeal findings.
“The grievance of the four was addressed but dismissed during the first review last year,” he said.
Judge Kamaludin Md Said, who chaired a three-member panel, postponed the ruling until October 8 because the issue raised by Shafee was new and the court needed time to deliberate.
Judge Yew Jen Kie, who chaired the first panel, said the four were using the request for review to reopen and re-examine the final decision on their appeal.
He also said that the failure of the appeals court to render a ruling did not constitute a special and exceptional circumstance that justified a review.
On February 21, 2018, a three-member panel chaired by Mohtarudin Baki sentenced them to four or three years in jail and fined them RM1 million each for money laundering.
The court also sentenced them to five years in jail and another fine of RM 1 million for illegally receiving deposits.
He ordered the sentences to run consecutively, meaning the four would have to spend eight years in jail.
Previously, the Kuala Lumpur Court of Sessions, on May 16, 2013, released the four after finding that the defense had raised reasonable doubts about the prosecution’s case. This finding was confirmed by the Superior Court in 2016.
All four were charged with committing money laundering offenses at the Menara Public Bank in Kuala Lumpur between July 2008 and June 2009.
They were also charged with illegally accepting public deposits at the company’s premises at Jalan Kuchai Maju 6, Kuala Lumpur, between November 2008 and July 2009.
