KUALA LUMPUR: Former Umno Supreme Council member Lokman Noor Adam will be issued a show cause letter for allegedly insulting a policemen by calling him “stupid” and questioning the law when he was present in the courtroom to follow Ahmad Zahid Hamidi’s corruption trial.
Deputy public prosecutor Raja Rozela Raja Toran brought this matter to the attention of trial judge Collin Lawrence Sequerah after a short recess this morning.
“A member of the public retaliated when a policeman asked him not to ‘play’ with his mobile phone. He called the cop ‘stupid’,” Raja Rozela said.
She said the individual also remarked that “the law was unfair”, and added that such behaviour should not be tolerated.
Sequerah asked if the person was still in court.
Lokman, who was in the public gallery, stood up and said he was “typing” on his mobile phone.
“I am issuing you a show cause (letter),” said Sequerah. “Do you wish to engage a lawyer on why you should not be cited for contempt?”
Lawyer Ahmad Zahidi Zainal, who is appearing for Zahid, then spoke “as a friend of the court”. He said Lokman should be given time to engage a lawyer to represent him, “maybe next week when this trial is being held”.
Sequerah then asked Raja Rozela whether the prosecution wanted to handle this matter since it happened in the courtroom.
“Action should be taken immediately and this can be dealt with this afternoon,” the DPP replied.
Lokman told Sequerah he will engage a lawyer to represent him.
Sequerah said the show cause letter will be officially issued on Monday, and Lokman has to be present.
“This court views the alleged misconduct very seriously,” he said.
On July 15 last year, Sequerah had sentenced Lokman to a month’s jail after finding him guilty of contempt of court for intimidating a prosecution witness in former prime minister Najib Razak’s 1MDB trial.
Sequerah is also the trial judge in the 1MDB trial, which is ongoing.
He had said then that he was imposing a custodial sentence after taking into account the circumstances of the case and hearing mitigating and aggravating factors by counsel.
Lokman had threatened Amhari Efendi Nazaruddin as he was in the midst of giving evidence in the trial in 2019.
The court, however, allowed Lokman to stay the jail term pending appeal at the Court of Appeal.
Sequerah ordered Lokman to post a RM3,000 bond in one surety.
On Oct 22, 2019, the judge had allowed then attorney-general Tommy Thomas to initiate committal proceedings against Lokman.
Lokman lodged a police report challenging Amhari’s credibility as a witness following his admission on the witness stand that he had received a US$200,000 loan from fugitive businessman Low Taek Jho, or Jho Low.
The prosecution submitted that Lokman’s comments about Amhari were not only tantamount to threatening the witness or other potential witnesses, but they had also undermined the administration of justice.
In the present proceedings, Zahid, who is also the Umno president, is standing trial on 12 charges of criminal breach of trust, eight charges of corruption and 27 charges of money laundering involving millions of ringgit. - FMT
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