No appeals so far on MCO sentences in KL, Putrajaya

Magistrates have been using their discretion when sentencing those violating the MCO, says the KL prosecution director.

PETALING JAYA: No appeals have been filed in the High Court despite the differences in sentencing by magistrates against those who breached the movement control order (MCO) in the Federal Territories, a prosecutor said.

Federal Territory of Kuala Lumpur prosecution director Julia Ibrahim said lower court judges sentenced offenders to a day’s jail and up to two months’ imprisonment.

She said the fines also ranged from RM500 to RM1,000.

“The prosecution has not filed an appeal or sought a review of any case so far as the magistrates had used their discretion on a case by case basis,” she told FMT.

She said there have also been no cases of offenders appealing or High Court judges calling up files on their own volition to review cases.

Julia said this in response to a query on whether the prosecution had appealed the case of the daughter and son-in-law of former deputy prime minister Ahmad Zahid Hamidi who were fined RM800 each last week for breaching the MCO.

Nurul Hidayah Ahmad Zahid and Saiful Nizam Mohd Yusoff paid the fine after they pleaded guilty before a magistrate in Putrajaya.

The penalty for violating the MCO is a maximum fine of RM1,000, six months’ jail or both.

Members of the public, including single mother B Lisa Christina, had questioned the court’s decision to only fine Nurul and Saiful.

In Lisa’s case, she was initially sentenced to 30 day’s jail by a magistrate in Petaling Jaya but it was substituted by a fine of RM1,000 following a revision in the High Court.

Lisa had also spent eight days in prison pending her appeal in the High Court.

DPP Nur Ashikin Mokhtar, who prosecuted the case involving Nurul and Saiful, had asked for a deterrent sentence that would include a jail term.

Julia said that initially, there were not many cases referred to the courts in Putrajaya and Kuala Lumpur when the MCO came into effect on March 18.

“Later, we had between 20 and 60 cases a day for prosecution,” she said.

She said her officers also sent a daily MCO report to the Attorney-General’s Chambers for its monitoring.

“So far, we have had no instruction to file an appeal or seek a review on Nurul and Saiful’s case. We have 14 days to file an appeal,” she added. - FMT