Businessperson B Subramaniam, who was charged over alleged supporting of defunct militant group Liberation of Tamil Tigers Eelam (LTTE), has failed to obtain bail at the Kuala Lumpur High Court today.
This was after High Court judge Mohamed Zaini Mazlan ruled that offences under Section 130J of the Penal Code are non-bailable.
"Offences under Section 130J are non bailable.
"The court disagreed with the applicant's argument that Section 130J is unconstitutional.
"Therefore, the application is dismissed," Mohamed Zaini said.
Meanwhile, Subramaniam's counsel S Selvam told the media that he would be filing a motion for the bail application at the court of appeal as well as appealing against the high court's decision.
"I will file a motion at the court of appeal for the bail application and appeal against the (high court) decision today," Selvam said.
On Oct 31, Balasubramaniam was among 12 individuals hauled to the Kuala Lumpur Sessions Court to be charged over their purported links to LTTE.
The 12 individuals were detained under the controversial Security Offences (Special Measures) Act 2012 (Sosma) in a police sweep last October. They were charged under Section 130J of the Penal Code, which deals with the offence of knowingly soliciting or giving support to terrorist groups or terrorist acts. It carries a maximum punishment of life imprisonment or not more than 30 years in jail, on conviction.
In November, another High Court judge Mohd Nazlan Mohd Ghazali ruled that Section 13 of the Sosma is unconstitutional as it usurps the court's power to grant bail in security offence cases, among others.
Section 13 of the Act had prohibited courts from granting bail in security offences and terrorism cases.
Following this, on Jan 29, the Kuala Lumpur High Court denied the application for bail by another accused in the LTTE case, Gadek assemblyperson G Saminathan.
In doing so, judge Ahmad Shahrir Mohd Salleh became the first judge to dismiss an LTTE-accused's bail application on its merits. -Mkini
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