GEORGE TOWN: The Sessions Courts allowed cases involving six accused charged under Section 26E of the Anti-Trafficking in Persons and Anti-Smuggling of Migrants (Atipsom) Act 2007 to be transferred to the High Court.
The case came up for hearing today at two separate courtrooms before Judges Norsalha Datuk Hamzah and Madzi Abdul Hamid while state prosecution director Yusaini Amer Abdul Karim led the team of six Deputy Public Prosecutors.
The prosecution team presented their initial submissions to request the case to be transferred to the High Court.
State National Registration Department (NRD) assistant director Mohd Faizul Arifin, 34; businessman Datuk Lai Chin Wah, 56; Mohd Faizal Tan Abdullah, 66; Chien Guan Chai, 36; Loh Chan Cheong, 34; and Yap Cheng Wah, 44; were all charged under Section 26E of the Atipsom Act 2007 on Sept 12.
The charges are in connection with the issuance and sale of illegal MyKads to foreigners.
From the defence counsel, Datuk Ranjit Singh Dhillon questioned whether Section 26E of the Atipsom Act fell under the security offence. Others also presented their respective objections.
Yusaini said according to Section 177A of Criminal Procedure Code, the cases can be transferred to the High Court to be tried under the Security Offences (Special Measures) Act 2012 (Sosma).
"The charges presented by the prosecution are directly mentioned in the First Schedule of Sosma.
"In principle, the court must allow the cases to be transferred to the High Court after the submission under Section 177A of the Criminal Procedure Code is made.
"The High Court is the right platform for the case to be tried as it is under their jurisdiction," he told both courts.
Upon hearing the submission, both judges allowed the case to be transferred to the High Court.
It was reported that police arrested 20 people, aged between 32 and 70, on Aug 19, including the state NRD assistant in a special operation.
Others nabbed were 17 locals, two Chinese nationals and an Indian citizen.
They acted as agents, middlemen, sponsors and holders of the fake birth certificates, MyKads and passports.
Federal Criminal Investigation Department director Datuk Huzir Mohamed had said investigations revealed that the syndicate’s agents would look for foreigners seeking citizenships, and believed they were paid between RM100,000 and RM600,000.
They were remanded for 28 days for investigation under Sosma.