GEORGE TOWN: The complainant in the corruption cases involving former Penang chief minister Lim Guan Eng and businesswoman Phang Li Koon has filed for a review of the High Court’s decision to acquit them.
Muhsin Abdul Latheef filed the review at the Penang High Court here earlier this week.
In the court document sighted by the New Straits Times Press, Muhsin is seeking an order for the High Court to review its decision on Sept 3 to acquit both the respondents.
“The court should replace its order to that of a discharge not amounting to an acquittal,” he had said in his application.
Muhsin’s application for review was done on grounds that the Deputy Public Prosecutor’s request to stop the trial was invalid as Lim had a close relationship with the Attorney General, resulting in a conflict of interest.
“The court is not ‘functus officio’. It still has the power to decide on the matter under Section 278 of the Criminal Procedure Code to prevent any injustice or abuse of the legal process.
“The court’s decision to acquit both respondents ‘ipso facto’ is also not an oversight as it has the power to do so under Section 254(3) of the Criminal Procedure Code.
“The court was not informed by any quarters of a possible conflict of interest. If it had been told, the decision may not be as such.
“It may be right for the court to grant an acquittal in other cases but not this particular case based on the principle that justice should not only seem to be done but should manifestly and undoubtedly be seen to be done,” he added.
The High Court had on Sept 3 granted a discharge amounting to an acquittal on Lim and Phang over their corruption charges, two years ago.
This followed an application made by Deputy Public Prosecutor Datuk Masri Mohd Daud to the court, based on a representation sent by the defence to the Attorney General to withdraw the case, on July 6.
Masri had applied for a discharge not amounting to an acquittal.
Lim’s lead counsel, Ramkarpal Singh, and Phang’s lead counsel, Datuk V. Sithambaram, had requested for a full acquittal.
Judge Datuk Hadhariah Syed Ismail, in her judgment, had agreed with the counsels that the charges “cannot be hanging over the head of the accused indefinitely.” She had stressed that there must be finality.
Meanwhile, Muhsin, on his Facebook page, launched a crowd-funding campaign to enable him to engage a legal counsel to represent him on the matter, which has been fixed for case management on Oct 3.
“I have received a date from the court. I hope for financial assistance from friends to enable me to fight this case to the end, more so it involves public interest,” he said in his posting earlier today.
Previously, counsel Gunamalar Joorindanjn, who acted for him, had rubbished the explanation given by the Attorney General’s Chambers (AGC) with regards to Lim and Phang’s acquittal.
She had demanded that an inquiry be commissioned immediately to investigate the circumstances that led to the acceptance of the letters of representation by both Phang and Lim.
She had also called on the AG to file a notice of appeal within the stipulated time to give the Court of Appeal an opportunity to review the decision of the honourable judge to order an acquittal, instead of a discharge not amounting to an acquittal.
On Aug 29, Gunamalar had written a letter to the AGC requesting that the criminal trials be continued in order to allow the judge to make a decision based on the merits of the case.
She had said, in the same letter, that they had reminded the AGC about the oft-quoted opinion that “justice should not only be done but should manifestly and undoubtedly be seen to be done”.
The appeal, however, was never filed within the 14 days, which ended on Sept 18.
Muhsin said this application for a review “is the only way now for justice to be seen at the end of the day.”
“This makes this application very very important,” he added.