PUTRAJAYA: The Court of Appeal today set aside PKR vice-president Rafizi Ramli’s 18-month jail sentence for exposing 1Malaysia Development Berhad’s (1MDB) audit report last year.
The three-man bench led by Datuk Ahmadi Hasnawi instead bound him over on a two-year good behaviour bond, with RM10,000 bail with one surety.
In November last year, the sessions court sentenced Rafizi to a total of 36 months in jail over two charges of possessing and leaking the classified 1MDB audit report.
He was charged with possessing Page 98 of the report, without approval, at the Parliament’s lobby at Jalan Parliament at 3pm on March 24, last year.
Rafizi was also accused of exposing, without approval, the contents of the page at a press conference on March 28.
The offences fall under the Official Secrets Act 1972 (OSA), which carries a maximum jail term of seven years, upon conviction.
The court had ordered Rafizi to serve the two 18-month sentences concurrently.
Deputy public prosecutor Awang Armada Jaya Awang Mahmud prosecuted, while Rafizi was represented by counsel Ahmad Nizam Hamid.