CPC allows MACC to remand suspects, court rules

 

The High Court in Johor Bahru has overturned a magistrate’s refusal to allow MACC to detain a suspect pending investigations under the provisions of the Criminal Procedure Code.

PETALING JAYA: The High Court in Johor Bahru has ruled that the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC) can rely on Section 117 of the Criminal Procedure Code (CPC) to remand suspects for further investigation.

In his ruling today, Justice Abu Bakar Katar said it must be borne in mind that the legislature passed the MACC Act in 2009 for the law enforcement agency to fight corruption effectively.

The judge was hearing a revision application by MACC after a magistrate refused to allow the detention of a suspect pending investigations into his alleged use of forged documents to obtain an undisclosed amount of money from the Social Security Organisation (Socso) during the Covid-19 lockdown based on a Temerloh High Court ruling in May.

In that case, Justice Roslan Mat Nor had ruled that MACC could not rely on provisions in the CPC to remand suspects for investigation purposes.

Roslan said MACC could detain a person for up to 24 hours but must seek a remand order under Section 49(4) of the MACC Act for a longer detention period.

However, Abu Bakar took a different view. He said the magistrate who made the decision based on Roslan’s ruling failed to appreciate that Section 49(2) of the MACC Act does not contain any specific provision allowing the remand of a suspect after 24 hours.

“MACC has the option to apply for remand to detain a suspect under Section 117 of the CPC without relying on Section 49(2) of the MACC Act,” he said.

He said Section 49(2) read together with Section 29(3) of the MACC Act gives an investigator “all the powers of investigation provided for under this Act and the Criminal Procedure Code”.

That means that after a report is made, an MACC investigating officer may rely on both the MACC Act and the CPC to begin an investigation if he has reason to believe that an offence has been committed, he said.

Abu Bakar, however, did not make any further order in the case since the suspect was freed following the magistrate’s refusal to allow for the remand. - FMT