Peter Anthony to know fate on false document case tomorrow

 

Former Sabah infrastructure development minister Peter Anthony, who is charged with falsifying a letter from the office of Universiti Malaysia Sabah (UMS) deputy vice-chancellor for a system maintenance contract work, will know his fate tomorrow.

Sessions Court judge Azura Alwi is scheduled to read out the verdict at the end of the defence case at 9am.

On Feb 18, the defence team rested its case after calling three witnesses, including Peter, in the proceedings which began on Feb 9.

The other two defence witnesses called to testify were Peter’s personal assistant, Imy Christopher, 36, and Siaga Informatics Sdn Bhd digital forensics manager Nurul Aiman Azmail, 34.

At the prosecution stage, a total of 15 witnesses, including former prime minister Najib Abdul Razak, former treasury secretary-general Mohd Irwan Serigar Abdullah and former chief justice Zaki Azmi, who was appointed as UMS board of directors chairperson from April 3, 2013 to July 31, 2018, were called to testify at the trial which began on April 5 last year.

On Dec 14, 2021, the court ordered Peter, 51, to enter his defence after finding that the prosecution had succeeded in establishing a prima facie case against him.

According to the charge, Peter, as the managing director of Syarikat Asli Jati, was charged with forging a letter from the office of the deputy vice-chancellor of UMS dated June 9, 2014, by inserting a false statement with the intention of being used for fraudulent purposes.

The former Warisan vice-president was accused of committing the offence at the office of the principal private secretary to the prime minister at the Perdana Putra building in Putrajaya between June 13 and Aug 21, 2014.

The charge was framed under Section 468 of the Penal Code for forging a document for the purpose of cheating which provides imprisonment for up to seven years and fine if found guilty.

The prosecution was conducted by deputy public prosecutor Wan Shaharuddin Wan Ladin along with Haresh Prakash Somiah and Francine Cheryl Rajendram, while Peter was represented by lawyer S Devanandan.

- Bernama