NGO’s bid to quash Zara’s inquest dismissed

 Kota Kinabalu High Court rules that Pembela did not have the legal standing to file the action.

The High Court in Kota Kinabalu ordered Pertubuhan Kebajikan Ekonomi Semangat Bersatu Malaysia to pay the attorney-general and the coroner’s court RM10,000 in costs.

PETALING JAYA:

The High Court in Kota Kinabalu has dismissed an NGO’s leave application for a judicial review to quash the ongoing inquest into Zara Qairina Mahathir’s death.

Justice Celestina Stuel Galid ruled yesterday that the applicant, Pertubuhan Kebajikan Ekonomi Semangat Bersatu Malaysia (Pembela), did not have the legal standing to file the application.

The attorney-general, as guardian of public interest, had opposed the application on grounds that it was frivolous.

Celestina, who delivered the ruling online, also ordered Pembela to pay the attorney-general and the coroner’s court RM10,000 in costs.

Pembela was represented by Jul Hamri Jumhani, while senior federal counsel Nurhafizza Azizan acted for the attorney-general.

Counsel Shahlan Jufri appeared as an interested party on behalf of Noraidah Lamat, the mother of Zara.

On Nov 21, Pembela filed the judicial review application seeking to quash the inquest on grounds that it was being conducted under the federal Criminal Procedure Code instead of Sabah’s Inquest Ordinance 1959.

Arguing that the state law contains specific procedural safeguards, it sought an order declaring the 1959 ordinance as the applicable law and for the court to strike out the ongoing proceedings.

Zara, 13, died at Queen Elizabeth Hospital in Kota Kinabalu on July 17 last year, a day after she was found unconscious in a drain near her school’s dormitory in Papar. - FMT