The Royal Malaysian Air Force (RMAF) had said the arrest was due to Tharmendran’s no show for duty after posting bail on September 6.
The Mindef Corporate Communication Unit maintains Tharmendran is still serving and his absence was an offence under the Armed Forces Act 1972.
His counsel, N. Surendran, however, had repeatedly pointed out that Tharmendran’s contract of service was not renewed since its expiry on May 28 this year.
“Today, the court has unfortunately decided that the second arrest was not a contempt of court order,” he told The Malaysian Insider.
Renuka Balasubramaniam, a lawyer who was mentioning on behalf of Surendran today, said that the judge had decided that the offence would be under the Armed Forces Act.
Judge Hayatul Akmal Abdul Aziz fixed the trial date to be from June 14 to 16.
Surendran said a lot of “juicy” details relevant to the high profile case will be revealed during the trial.
The High Court had earlier set January 4 to hear a habeas corpus application from the former sergeant to be released from RMAF detention.
The hearing was supposed to be held on December 10 but was postponed to January 4 to give time to all the respondents, who are represented by the Defence Ministry’s assistant legal advisor Mohamad Tarmizi Ahmad, to file their affidavits-in-reply.
This is the second time the case has been postponed after it first came for hearing before Judge Datuk Su Geok Yiam on December 3.
Tharmendran had filed the application on November 26 and named Batu Cantonment Camp commandant Lt Colonel Mohd Razif Ramli; RMAF chief Gen Tan Sri Datuk Sri Rodzali Daud and the Defence Ministry as respondents.
In his affidavit, Tharmendran, 42, had claimed that his arrest by RMAF on November 25 was mala fide.
He was detained by RMAF provost marshalls outside the Shah Alam court complex on that day for alleged desertion.
The High Court had also dismissed Tharmendran’s application to strike out the charges over the theft of two fighter jet engines on December 17, citing failure to prove that there was any outside intervention in the court process.
Tharmendran is accused of abetting Senior Airman Mohamad Shukri Mohamad Yusop in the theft at the Material Processing Shed, Matra 1 warehouse, at the air force base in Sungai Besi in 2008. Mohamad Shukri has yet to be charged for any offence.
Tharmendran and company director K. Rajandran Prasad were jointly charged in the Petaling Jaya Sessions Court on January 6 in connection with the theft of the missing F5-E jet engines.
Tharmendran is accused of stealing the engines in December 2007 at the Subang RMAF air base.
He was arrested on September 1 last year, and if convicted faces up to 10 years’ jail and a fine.
Rajandran is accused of disposing of the engines on April 30, 2008.
In August, Tharmendran was also charged with three counts of money laundering involving RM62,000 while Prasad was charged with five counts involving RM437,000.
The theft was a major embarrassment to the government following reports later that the country’s first submarine — KD Tunku Abdul Rahman — could not dive in tropical waters.
The prime minister had vowed that there would be no cover-up in the high-profile case which occurred during his tenure as defence minister while the current minister, Datuk Ahmad Zahid Hamidi, had claimed that it was an inside job. - Malaysian Insider
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