Court rules company director not entitled to get favourable statements
PUTRAJAYA : The Court of Appeal has ruled that the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission is not obliged by law to furnish a written statement containing facts favourable to a company director charged with receiving RM15 million in bribes to secure projects linked to the home ministry.
A three-member bench led by Justice Hashim Hamzah said the High Court erred in ruling that Section 51A (1)(c) of the Criminal Procedure Code stands on the same legal footing as Section 51 of the same law.
'The High Court was wrong in compelling MACC to give two paragraphs of a written statement in favour of the accused to the defence,' he said, referring to Sim Choo Thiam, in the unanimous ruling which restored a sessions court ruling.
Section 51 deals with summonses to produce documents or other things, while Section 51A(1)(c) states that the prosecution shall, before trial, deliver to the accused a written statement of facts favourable to the defence.
Also on the panel hearing the appeal were Justices Azizul Azmi Adnan and Faizah Jamaludin.
A case management will be held in the sessions court on June 30 to fix trial dates.
Earlier today, deputy public prosecutor Farah Ezlin Yusop Khan submitted that the High Court ruling had usurped the role of the prosecution in determining whether there were statements in favour of Sim under Section 51A (1)(c) of the CPC.
She said the prosecution would be prejudiced if the statements were provided before the trial.
'It amounts to conceding the case, and the defence will only have to tender the statements in court and would not need to cross-examine the investigating officer,' she said.
Lawyer Hisyam Teh Poh Teik said the law obliged the prosecution to provide an accused person with exculpatory statements for the benefit of their defence.
'There must be an honest pre-trial disclosure,' he said.
Last year, the High Court in Kuala Lumpur allowed Sim's revision application to compel MACC to furnish a fresh written statement of facts favouring his defence.
Sim, 55, is facing four charges of soliciting and accepting bribes of RM15 million to secure projects from a home ministry agency.
According to him,, the fact in favour of the defence is that he was charged in court before MACC recorded a statement from former home minister Hamzah Zainudin, whose name was mentioned in Sim's charges.
Sim also claimed that his cautioned statements, recorded by MACC on Feb 16 and 28, 2023, did not support the alleged corruption charges against him.
In his ruling, Justice K Muniandy directed MACC to furnish the statement, after finding there were favourable facts to be disclosed by the prosecution to the accused before trial to ensure his right to a fair trial.
Sim had filed the revision application in the sessions court on July 4, 2023, claiming he was entitled to the statement under Section 51A of the CPC. Judge Rozina Ayob dismissed his application two months later.
On May 10, 2023, Sim was charged with soliciting a RM15 million bribe from Hep Kim Hong, the managing director of Asia Coding Centre Sdn Bhd, through Syed Abu Zafran Syed Ahmad, as an inducement for Hamzah to award projects to the company.
He was also charged with three counts of accepting RM15 million in bribes from the same individual as an inducement for Hamzah to award other projects on a similar basis.
The offences are alleged to have been committed at the Shaas Holdings office and a parking lot at Solaris Dutamas, Jalan Dutamas 1 here between June and July 2021.
The charges were framed under Section 16(a)(B) of the MACC Act 2009, punishable under Section 24(1) of the same Act, carrying a maximum imprisonment of 20 years and a fine of at least five times the value of the bribe or RM10,000, whichever is higher, upon conviction.
Lawyers Low Wei Loke and Kee Wei Lon also represented Sim, while deputy public prosecutors Asraf Tahir, Qistini Qamarul Abrar and Ifa Sirhu Samsudin assisted Farah.
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