A defendant in a civil suit filed at the Shah Alam High Court has evaded a contempt charge with an apology and admission to attempts at influencing the outcome of proceedings through initiating external contacts with the presiding judge and lawyer for the plaintiff.
Judge Mohd Firuz Jaffril presented Mohd Nizam Alias - the third defendant in a suit filed by plaintiff YM Golden Sdn Bhd - with the option to admit his actions and apologise, or face a contempt charge.
"If you admit, I will not drag this matter further.
"However, if you deny that this incident happened, I will arrange for a contempt of court charge to be brought against you," Firuz told Nizam in court this morning where the suit was initially scheduled to enter a full trial.
"If that happens, then I will act as the prosecutor, jury and judge. If I say there is enough evidence, that would be enough.
"So I want you to think carefully. If you say you admit to your mistake, I will accept that," he said.
Defendant also writes letter to plaintiff’s lawyer
On the alleged interference attempt, Nizam admitted to contacting Firuz via phone and requesting the latter's opinion.
Nizam also admitted that he wrote a letter to the plaintiff’s lawyer trying to seek an out of court settlement.
"As an ordinary human, I am not spared from making mistakes.
"I had no intentions to commit contempt," said Nizam in his apology.
In response to the admission, Firuz stressed that the attempts to interfere with a court proceeding was a serious matter that could snare both parties in external probes.
"This is a serious matter. You can see now if you read the papers, claims of judges on the take, one million found in account, the MACC will enter (and probe).
"Even if you knew me in the past, you cannot contact me if there is an ongoing case. What's more, you also wrote to the plaintiff's lawyer," said Firuz.
Judge, defence lawyer withdraw from case
Given the circumstances, Firuz said he was forced to transfer the case to another judge and a new trial date will be set within two weeks.
“I take this issue seriously. I can assure you there is no communication between me and the third defendant asking him to apologise today.
“As far as the case is concerned, I will not be hearing it," said Firuz in addressing lawyers for the plaintiff, Vijayasundra Thevar and S Saravanan.
At the end of the proceedings, Firuz also granted an application from Nizam's lawyer, Nur Hannan Ishak, to withdraw from the case.
Aside from Nizam, the suit seeking damages for money accepted based on alleged fraudulent trading also named four other defendants. - Mkini
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