The government has ordered an investigation into claims of the early closure of a bail counter at a courthouse in Kuala Lumpur.
This comes after six locals, who are facing charges of criminal conspiracy with the intention to cheat, were reportedly forced to spend the long weekend in prison after they could not post bail due to the early closure of the bail counter.
Minister in the Prime Minister’s Department (Law and Institutional Reform) Azalina Othman Said said her ministry’s legal affairs division had been instructed to probe the matter.
If the allegations are proven to be true, Azalina said the matter must be reviewed and corrected to ensure administrative errors such as the aforementioned case do not repeat.
“The right to bail is a fundamental and constitutional human right that the government respects without question.
“Any act, including administrative issues, that interfere with this right is viewed as flouting this cardinal principle,” she was quoted as saying by Free Malaysia Today.
Orders from court management?
On Thursday, the news portal reported that the six individuals - Liew Zhen Ying, Koh Zheng Yan, Renee Low, Foo Wei Xuan, Liew Zhen Shen, and Wong Wai Hong - would be spending the long weekend in the Sungai Buloh prison.
Meanwhile, another four - Law Si Kai, Tan Jia Jing, Ching Chung Haw, and Xu Shao Rong, who were jointly charged with the six individuals - managed to post their bail in time.
Lawyer Alvin Tan, who represented them, alleged that the court officials had shuttered the registration counter at 2.53pm.
This is despite a notice stating that office hours were until 4.30pm.
Tan told the news portal the families of the accused had appealed to the counter staff but to no avail.
“The counter staff said that it was closed pursuant to a directive from the Kuala Lumpur court management,” he was quoted as saying.
Tan added that two of the accused, who were denied bail, were ill.
The 10 men had pleaded not guilty to the charges when they appeared before magistrate Wong Chai Sia yesterday afternoon, which the latter had allowed bail at RM4,000 each.
Yesterday, former deputy law minister Mohamed Hanipa Maidin said it was unacceptable for the registration counter that processes bails to be closed earlier than usual.
The former Sepang MP is of the view that the relevant parties, including the government, may be exposed to civil suits for a slew of actions that includes tort of misfeasance of public office. - Mkini
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