Appeals court sets aside former arbitrator's jail sentence

The Court of Appeal today set aside the one-month jail sentence on a chartered arbitrator for making a false declaration to the director of the Kuala Lumpur Regional Centre for Arbitration (KLRCA) nine years ago.

A three-judge panel led by justice Hanipah Farikullah made that decision after counsel Alex De Silva, representing the appellant, Yusof Holmes Abdullah, 78, informed the court that the Attorney-General’s Chambers (AGC) had allowed the application to set aside the jail sentence.

De Silva said this was because a representation to set aside the sentence had been made to the AGC in February.

“The appellant withdrew his appeal against the conviction while the respondent (public prosecutor) withdrew the appeal against the sentence as the AGC had allowed my client’s representation to set aside the jail sentence of one month while the fine of RM50,000 remained,” he said and added that the appellant had paid the fine.

Deputy public prosecutor Samihah Rhazali confirmed the matter.

Justice Hanipah, who sat with hmad Nasfy Yasin and Ghazali Cha, said that after hearing the submissions from counsel and the DPP and following the decision of the AGC, the court decided that the conviction against the appellant and RM50,000 fine imposed by the High Court remained and the jail sentence set aside.

“The appellant’s appeal against conviction and the respondent’s cross-appeal against the sentence are thus withdrawn,” said Justice Hanipah.

On Jan 5, 2017, the Kuala Lumpur Sessions Court sentenced Yusof Holmes, a British national with permanent resident status in Malaysia, to six months’ jail and fined him RM20,000 for committing the offence but allowed a stay of the jail sentence and fine until the decision on the appeal case is made by the High Court.

The Kuala Lumpur High Court in its decision on July 18, 2019, ordered the jail sentence be reduced to one month and the fine be increased to RM50,000.

Yusof Holmes was charged with committing the offence at the KLRCA on Jan 25, 2010, under Section 417 of the Penal Code which provides for a jail sentence of up to five years or a fine or both, upon conviction.

- Bernama