PUTRAJAYA: A lawyer representing an ex-director of gold bar investment company Genneva Sdn Bhd was reprimanded by a Court of Appeal judge on Thursday for filing a review against an ongoing case.
Judge Datuk Mohtarudin Baki, who chaired a three-man panel, said the action of counsel Datuk Harpal Singh Drewal was an insult to the court.
"The case has not been completed and yet you file a review.. I feel like it is an insult... why can't you wait?," the judge chided.
Harpal, who is the counsel for Chin Wai Leong, filed a review against his client's conviction on Tuesday.
Chin, 42, along with former Genneva directors Ng Poh Weng, 68, Marcus Yee Yuen Seng, 66, and Liew Chee Wah, 64, were found guilty by the Court of Appeal on Dec 12 last year of 293 counts of money-laundering; while the four, together with Genneva, were convicted of five illegal deposit-taking activities.
The sentencing of the four and the company, which was fixed for today, has been postponed to Jan 11 as Chin's newly-appointed main counsel, Tan Sri Dr Muhammad Shafee Abdullah, was not present.
Lawyer Sarah Abishegum, who was present on behalf of Shafee, had asked for an adjournment in order that Shafee could be present to submit a request for mitigation for his client, as he could not make it to court.
On Dec 12, last year, the Court of Appeal convicted the four former directors and the company of the offences after allowing the prosecution's appeal to set aside the Kuala Lumpur High Court's decision to acquit and discharge them.
The same panel in their brief judgement said that the court found that the gold sale and purchase transactions conducted by the four accused were included in the definition of a “deposit-taking business.”
On Sept 20, 2016, the Kuala Lumpur High Court upheld the Sessions Court's decision on May 16, 2013 to free the four accused and Genneva after finding that the investment company was only involved in the sale and purchase of physical gold, and that there was no evidence that the company was accepting deposits without a licence.
Ng, Yee, Chin and Liew were charged with committing the money-laundering offences at Menara Public Bank, 146, Jalan Ampang in Kuala Lumpur between July 2008 and June 2009.
The four, together with the company, were also accused of illegally accepting public deposits at the company's premises at Jalan Kuchai Maju 6, Persimpangan Jalan Kuchai Lama in Kuala Lumpur, between Nov 2008 and July 2009.