The Kota Kinabalu Sessions Court has fixed Nov 26 to deliver its verdict on businessperson Albert Tei’s application to cite Sabah caretaker chief minister Hajiji Noor for contempt.
Initially, judge Zaini Fishir @ Fisal has fixed today to decide on the matter. However, the date was moved to a later date following a last-minute objection from the state Attorney-General (AG) Brenndon Soh.
Court transcript sighted by Malaysiakini showed that Soh had told the judge that Article 145(3) and Section 376 of the Criminal Procedure Code had given exclusive authority to the federal attorney-general to have control and direction of all criminal proceedings and prosecution.
He also said that the Malaysian Civil Procedure 2012 empowered the attorney-general to commence contempt proceedings for any matter occurring in a criminal proceeding.
He then submitted, after the court allowed him and Rustam to assist the court, that Tei’s application is a non-starter and an abuse of court process, as it is the deputy public prosecutor who has the authority to decide whether a committal proceeding should be taken up in criminal proceedings and not the accused to file such an application.
Tei’s lawyer, Edward Paul, then required some time for his team to reply to Soh and Rustam, prompting the court to fix Nov 24 for him to file his submissions.
The judge also fixed the deadline for the state attorney-general and Rustam to reply to Edward’s submissions by Nov 26 at 9am, in which the court will deliver its verdict on the same day at 10.30am.
The verdict would be two days before Tei’s next scheduled appearance in court for his criminal case, which was fixed for Nov 28. It should also be noted that the hearing date is during the Sabah election campaign period.
Turned away at KKIA
Tei filed his application to cite Hajiji for contempt after he was turned away upon arrival at Kota Kinabalu International Airport (KKIA) for the second time on Oct 23, a day before he was scheduled to appear in court for his criminal case.
Sabah Immigration director Sh Sitti Saleha Habib Yussof said in October that the officers had stopped Tei as he had an active “Sabah Alert Notice” issued by the state government, and he was only allowed in if he was required to go to court.
She also claimed that Tei did not inform the officers in KKIA that he had a court case, but instead stated that he wanted to enter the state for sightseeing and meeting friends, which Tei’s lawyer, Mahajoth Singh, had since refuted.
Tei was also stopped from entering the state on Sept 22, purportedly because of a restriction from the Chief Minister’s Office. However, the matter was resolved after the immigration officer on duty at the airport gave Tei a conditional approval to enter the state for two days to attend his court hearing.
Tei is facing two corruption charges at the Kota Kinabalu Court, where he was accused of offering bribes to incumbent Tanjung Batu assemblyperson Andi Suryady Bandy and incumbent Sindumin assemblyperson Yusof Yacob. - Mkini
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