Court suggests retrial for returning officer’s contempt case

Rembau district officer Amino Agos Suyub outside the Court of Appeal after attending his contempt case today.

PUTRAJAYA: The Court of Appeal today proposed that the contempt case involving a former returning officer be sent to the High Court for retrial after the accused said he was unhappy with the way proceedings were carried out against him.

Rembau district officer Amino Agos Suyub was the returning officer in the May 9 polls for the Rantau state seat, where PKR candidate Dr Streram Sinnasamy was denied his right to file his nomination papers. This caused Umno’s Mohamad Hasan to win the seat uncontested.

Agos was found guilty of coaching a witness during the Rantau election petition hearing in October last year and sentenced to three months in jail.

Justice Hamid Sultan Abu Backer chaired the appeals court panel today accompanied by judges Hanipah Farikullah and Kamaluddin Md Saad.

“Since he (Agos) is not happy about how the contempt proceedings were carried out, we can refer the case back to the High Court for retrial,” Hamid said.

However, lawyer Rafique Rashid Ali who represented Streram in his petition said they did not concede to the proposal.

“We are of the view that the trial judge followed proper procedure in conducting the contempt proceedings against the returning officer,” he said.

Hamid then ordered the lawyers for Streram and Agos to make their submissions before Feb 7 on the feasibility of a retrial and whether the retrial should be heard before another judge.

In October 2017, Election Court judge Azimah Omar, who heard Streram’s petition, found Agos guilty of contempt of court for sending text messages to his subordinate, Daing Muhamad Rahimi Abdul Hamid, summarising his evidence and guiding him on how to give his testimony.

She imposed a custodial sentence on Agos on grounds that the court must send a strong message that general elections and by-elections must be conducted in a free and fair manner.

The same court in November also nullified Mohamad’s victory at Rantau and ordered the Election Commission (EC) to call for a by-election.

Mohamad and the EC have appealed, with their appeals to be heard on Feb 18. - FMT