Ex-airman’s application to quash charges dismissed

SHAH ALAM, Dec 17 — The High Court dismissed today former air force Sergeant N. Tharmendran’s application to strike out the charges over the theft of two fighter jet engines.

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.

Judicial Commissioner Datuk Asmabi Mohamed said the applicant had failed to prove that there was any outside intervention in the court process.

Asmabi also said the court did not find the prosecution had “manipulated or abused the process of the court.”

Although Asmabi admitted that High Court has the inherent powers to intercede but this was limited only to “exceptional” cases and she said that did not find the charge against the accused to be “oppressive” and “vexatious”.

She added that the burden of proof was on the applicant and that a satisfactory balance of probabilities was not provided.

Tharmendran (picture) previously claimed to have been tortured by two “majors” who sought to force a confession that he had stolen the jet engines.

He was allegedly dragged, stripped down to his underwear, and thrown into a freezing cold room and made to admit, repeatedly, that he was guilty.

Asmabi ruled that the reports and evidence provided in court had failed to prove that Tharmendran was interrogated by the air force but instead by the police.

However, she did recommend that the applicant file a civil suit against the two “majors”.

The applicant’s lawyer, N. Surendran, in his submission, had questioned why his client was the only one charged and not the principal offender.

He also questioned the delay in charging his client, saying he was only brought to court six months after his arrest.

Asmabi said there was no law that specified a period in which an arrest must be made.

“There is no time limit. The prosecution has the right to charge at any time as long as it is not unreasonable. I am of the opinion that it was not unreasonable,” she said.

She added that the prosecution has the discretion to decide who should be prosecuted and the law does not require that the principal offender be charged together with the abettor.

Outside the courtroom, Surendran said he has to discuss with his client on whether to file an appeal.

“On the one hand we do want to appeal but at the same time the client wants to the trial to be over and done with. He is eager to have his day in court. So I think we have some time and we will consider to file an appeal or not.

“But it is interesting that the judge said that he can consider filing a civil suit against the two majors. That means the judge did not outright dismiss the allegations of abuse. What she said was that as a matter of law, it can’t be taken into account in this application,” he said.

He also confirmed that the mention for the case will be on December 28.

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.