Letter poser over move to bar Pua from travelling abroad

The failure of the then Immigration Department director-general to produce a letter purportedly by inspector-general of police Khalid Abu Bakar to the High Court had raised doubts over his decision to bar DAP parliamentarian Tony Pua from travelling overseas.

In his submission during Pua’s judicial review application to quash the travel ban today, Pua’s counsel, Gobind Singh Deo, argued how the onus was on the respondent (Immigration Department director-general) to establish that there was, beforehand, such a letter.

“Reference was made to the letter but the letter was never produced,” he said.

Former Immigration Department director-general Mustafa Ibrahim, in his affidavit, had said that he received a letter from the IGP on July 15, last year, that Pua was being investigated under Section 124B of the Penal Code.

The Immigration Department director-general had then instructed the director of security and passport to deny Pua from boarding his flight.

Meanwhile, asked by Justice Hanipah Farikullah the relevance of producing the letter, Gobind said if the letter was relied upon, then the burden was on the respondent to produce it before he can ask the court to accept its contents.

“If not, it becomes hearsay […] The director-general has the powers and discretion, but discretion is subject to judicial review,” said Gobind.

“Without the letter, we are unable to say whether the director-general’s instruction was given as a result of the IGP’s letter or that an independent decision was made on his own.”

Senior federal counsel Shamsul Bol Hassan, representing the Immigration Department director-general, however, argued that the issue of whether there was such a letter or otherwise, was between the IGP and applicant (Pua).

After both party’s submissions, Justice Hanipah fixed May 17 for decision of the judicial review on the merits of Pua’s application..

Speaking to reporters later after the proceedings, Gobind said the letter would provide the context in which the decision to bar Pua from leaving the country was made.

“Our position is that the decision was made pursuant to this letter. It is the IGP who said in that letter that this person (Pua) is a person being investigated. So following that letter, he (the director-general) made that decision.”

Pua, on July 22, last year, was prevented from travelling to Jogjakarta to attend a conference despite having an international passport.

Following that, he filed for a judicial review application on Aug 19 the same year to challenge the ban.

The purported ban was due to the IGP informing the Immigration Department that Pua was a suspect for “activities detrimental to parliamentary democracy”.

However, Pua denied that he was such a suspect and said that until today, he had not been charged with such an offence.

He added that he was called in last September by the police not as a suspect but as a witness for such investigations. -Mkini