July 15 for decision in contempt bid against ex-Umno leader Lokman

 

The decision on the contempt of court application against former Umno leader Lokman Noor Adam has been rescheduled to July 15.

This date was fixed after the High Court in Kuala Lumpur vacated the initial decision date yesterday, due to the ongoing total lockdown under the movement control order (MCO 3.0).

During MCO 3.0, open court proceedings are generally not allowed in order to curb the spread of Covid-19 in Malaysia. However, certain matters such as remand hearings and the presentation of fresh criminal charges are allowed.

Deputy public prosecutor Muhammad Mustaffa P Kunyalam confirmed this morning that the court vacated yesterday’s initial decision date and set July 15 as the new decision date.

“The (contempt bid) case against Lokman (above) is on July 15,” he said when contacted, adding that the court informed parties on this development via email.

The prosecution seeks to cite Lokman, a former Umno supreme council member, for contempt over alleged threatening of witnesses in former prime minister Najib Abdul Razak’s RM2.28 billion corruption trial

The committal application is over two alleged 2019 incidents involving Amhari Efendi Nazaruddin, who was a former special officer of Najib.

Amhari had testified for the prosecution in the ongoing RM2.28 billion 1MDB corruption trial against Najib.

Amhari Efendi Nazaruddin

The first incident was on Sept 25, 2019, where Lokman allegedly uttered words in a video interview, amounting to an express or implied threat against Amhari, for testifying against the former prime minister.

The second incident also purportedly occurred on the same day, in relation to Lokman lodging a police report against Amhari, in relation to the oral evidence given by him at the 1MDB trial.

During the previous hearing of the contempt application before judge Collin Lawrence Sequerah, DPP Gopal Sri Ram submitted that right of freedom of speech does not justify Lokman’s alleged threatening of the witness.

The DPP contended that, among others, the words contained in the police report and the video interview amounted to an attack not only on Amhari but the court itself in relation to Najib’s 1MDB case.

However, Lokman’s counsel Muhammad Shafee Abdullah had countered that the contempt application ought to be dismissed, as the show-cause notice to the former Umno leader allegedly did not state critical details of the purported contemptuous acts.

Shafee contended, among others, that the prosecution cannot rely on the affidavit in support of details on the alleged contemptuous acts, claiming that the pertinent details should already be contained in the show-cause notice itself.

If found to have been in contempt, Lokman could face either a fine or a jail term. - Mkini