Lawyer's appeal to include matters on Copgate granted

An appeal by senior lawyer Rosli Dahlan to have matters related to the ‘Copgate’ affair to be included in his testimony, has been allowed by the Court of Appeal today.

The three-member panel also allowed Rosli's (right) defamation case againstUtusan Malaysia, the Anti-Corruption Agency (ACA) and the government to be heard before another Kuala Lumpur High Court judge.

The ACA later became the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC) in 2009.

The decision today by the panel, led by Justice Ramly Ali with Justices Hamid Sultan Backer and Mokhtaruddin Baki, was unanimous.

The Court of Appeal ruled that the High Court judge was wrong to prevent material evidence from being adduced, especially when the evidence showed the conspiracy by the attorney-general (AG) and the ACA in pursuing prosecution against Rosli.

It ruled that such evidence can be adduced during the trial.

On Jan 3, it was reported that the AG was successful in expungingRosli's answers to six out of a total of 127 questions, some of it related to the Copgate affair and Malaysia Airlines.

Justice Hew Siew Kheng had then ruled that the accusations were made against a third party (AG) with no opportunity for the person to defend himself.

However, the appellate court ruled that despite such materials are not pleaded in the statement of claim, it can be be produced during the trial.

The Copgate affair involves former Commercial Crime Investigation director Ramli Yusuff who was investigating alleged triad links in Johor with former IGP Musa Hassan.

The AG’s Chambers as well as the ACA had managed to obtain investigating papers that led to the exposure of the identities of police informants who helped in the arrest of underworld figure Goh Cheng Poh aka Tengku Goh.