Ex-spy chief's case to remain at Sessions Court

The criminal breach of trust case involving former government spy chief Hasanah Abdul Hamid will remain at the Sessions Court in Kuala Lumpur.

This came after the deputy public prosecutor this morning withdrew the notice of motion to transfer the case to the Kuala Lumpur High Court.

Iskandar Ahmad, who is the lead deputy public prosecutor, told the High Court that the prosecution had been instructed by the Attorney-General's Chambers to withdraw the motion, after Hasanah’s defence team expressed their intention to challenge the transfer.

In his argument however, Iskandar lambasted the defence for making a “U-turn” on an initial agreement to have Hasanah's case heard before a High Court judge.

This, he added, included the time when the case was mentioned before Sessions judge Rozina Ayob.

According to Iskandar, the judge had asked Hasanah's defence counsel whether he had any objection towards transferring the case to a higher court.

"In fact on Jan 3, before Judge Rozina, he (Hasanah's lawyer Shaharudin Ali) confirmed with the judge.

"The judge asked several times if they had any objection, to which they said no," he told High Court judge Mohd Nazlan Mohd Ghazali this morning.

Defence's reasons for opposing transfer

In his response, Shaharudin told the court that while he agreed with Iskandar about the defence making a U-turn on the matter, such a decision was not a crime.

He said the defence wanted to oppose the notice of motion based on two grounds, one of which was that it was filed without a supporting affidavit.

Shaharudin also told the court that the notice filed under Section 417 of the Criminal Procedure Code was an application, which means that the motion can be challenged.

Speaking to reporters later, Shaharudin said the defence counsel had decided that the case should continue being heard before a Sessions Court judge after discussing the matter with his client a few days ago.

"After having in-depth discussions with our client, we found that it would be more convenient to have the case tried in the Sessions Court. We feel that we can get justice at the Sessions Court too.

"I think this case also does not involve complex legal issues like the 1MDB case. 1MDB is complex so I am not surprised to see the case being decided by the High Court," he said.

Shaharudin also cited that among the reasons they wanted the case to be heard at Sessions Court was to spare Hasanah from being affected by the ongoing 1MDB trials.

"In our discussion, we also believe that the (High Court) judge would be busy hearing 1MDB trials, and if we throw Hasanah’s case into the mix, I am afraid that Hasanah would risk being affected by the 1MDB case.

"So I think we have looked at all angles... in our case we feel the Sessions Court will be a calm place for us to have the case tried there," he said.

Judge Mohd Nazlan then allowed the motion's withdrawal and fixed Feb 21 for the case to be heard in the Sessions Court.

Hasanah, 61, who is the former chief of the Malaysian External Intelligence Organisation (MEIO), had in October last year pleaded not guilty to criminal breach of trust involving US$12.1 million in government funds.

She allegedly committed the offence at the Prime Minister's Department in Putrajaya between April 30 and May 9, 2018. - Mkini