KUALA LUMPUR: The tribunal looking into allegations of misconduct by six former members of the Election Commission (EC) in the 14th General Election (GE14) today has ruled to not hear the case against them.
Retired Federal Court judge Tan Sri Amar Steve Shim, who chaired the panel, said since the issue had been rendered academic it should not be heard unless there was a good reason.
“The question before us today is the main objective of this tribunal is merely to seek the removal of the six commissioners, but they have already removed themselves whether voluntarily or otherwise from the EC,” he said.
“The answer in my view is obvious, I find no good in the public interest, it would be an exercise in futility.
“When the tribunal first met on Jan 28 this year all parties had appeared and submitted and during the proceedings, the main reason it was academic was because the six are no longer members of the EC.”
Panel members, retired Federal Court judges Tan Sri Zaleha Zahari and Tan Sri Suriyadi Halim Omar concurred in their decision that the case should not proceed, while Tan Sri Jeffrey Tan Kok Wha and Datuk Dr Prasad Sandosham Abraham were of the opinion that the tribunal should hear the matter as it involved the national interest.
Tan and Prasad decided that the trial against the six men should proceed as it had to do with Malaysia’s democratic process, that their voluntary resignations from the EC did not prevent them from being investigated for misconduct while in public office.
Shim said the tribunal would submit the report on its decision to the Yang Di-Pertuan Agong.
On Oct 17, last year, it was reported that the government had decided to set up the tribunal to investigate Tan Sri Othman Mahmood, Datuk Md Yusop Mansor, Datuk Abdul Aziz Khalidin, Datuk Sulaiman Narawi, Datuk K. Bala Singam Karupiah and Datuk Leo Chong Cheong. A day later, five members of the EC announced their resignations, while the sixth, Bala Singam, tendered his resignation on Nov 27, last year.
Thirteen charges were framed against the six in connection with their role in preparing the controversial redelineation report and the manner in which GE14 was conducted.
The allegations included gerrymandering, setting the bare minimum (11 days) campaigning period, failure to take action against election offences, setting the polling day on a Wednesday, and making arbitrary and unreasonable election regulations.
Othman, Md Yusop, Abdul Aziz and Sulaiman were represented by lawyers Datuk Shaharudin Ali and Mohd Khairul Azam Abdul Aziz, while Bala and Leo were represented by K. Balaguru and R. Kengadharan respectively.
Attorney-General Tommy Thomas said he was disappointed with the ruling and the tribunal’s concern over the time, expenses and energy involved if the tribunal were to proceed.
“Does it matter if it is going to take two months to inquire the truth?
“We will have to study the recommendations made by the panel once they have submitted the report to the Yang Di-Pertuan Agong and I will advise the government to release it (the report),” he said. - Bernama