Lawyers worry about discontinuance of online bail payments

 

Lawyers say the old process of posting bail was particularly tedious in busy courthouses such as those of Kuala Lumpur and other major cities.

PETALING JAYA: The legal fraternity has expressed shock over the decision to halt the “convenient” online bail payment process, with lawyers warning that reverting to the “tedious” manual process previously in place might compromise the liberty of accused persons.

Presently, bail is posted via e-Jamin, a service launched in January 2020 which has simplified and quickened the process of posting bail in court. The service allows bailors to post bail via online banking transactions.

Senior lawyer SN Nair said the manual process inconvenienced court officers, lawyers, accused persons and the police, and had become particularly tedious in the busy courthouses of Kuala Lumpur, Selangor, Penang and other major cities across the country.

Under the old practice, bailors would need to attend personally at a bank, open an account, deposit the bail sum and surrender the bank book to the courts before an accused is freed on bail, he said.

“This used to be very tedious because of the limited banking hours and also the closing time of courts.

“It was even tougher when there was a deluge of bail payments involved, which would burden the court staff tremendously,” he said, adding that failure to settle bail on time could result in an accused person spending a night in lock-up.

The e-Jamin system, on the other hand, had been “efficient, swift and able to cater for heavy workloads”, he said.

In a notice on Monday, the chief registrar of the Federal Court, Zamri Bakar, informed lawyers and the courts that the e-Jamin system would be discontinued effective May 19.

No reasons were given for the decision.

NG Vinod said e-Jamin prevented injustices caused by the closure of banks or shorter working hours of courts on certain days, as well as the extended weekends arising from public holidays falling at the beginning or end of a week – a common occurrence in Malaysia.

“To discard a system suddenly without giving any proper reason raises questions,” he said.

He urged the Palace of Justice in Putrajaya to put the decision on hold pending discussions with the Bar Council and stakeholders.

Rafique Rashid Ali, a former chairman of the Bar Council’s criminal law committee, urged the courts to exercise caution as the liberty of accused persons could be at stake if the judiciary returned to the traditional way of processing bail applications.

Salim Bashir meanwhile said magistrates and sessions court judges should take cognisance that bail hearings and subsequent processes must take into account the operating hours of banks.

“We are also curious to know why a system that has worked well has been discontinued,” said Salim, a former president of the Malaysian Bar and criminal law committee head.

Alwin Tan said under the e-Jamin system, a bailor could complete the bail procedure within 15 minutes by transferring the required sum online via a smartphone.

He said under the old method, a bailor would have to register at the bail counter, then go to the nearest bank to open an account and comply with other procedures.

“The bailor had to then return to the court and complete the bail procedures. The process could take several hours, especially in the event of unforeseen circumstances.”

Tan said there was now a higher possibility of a bailor being unable to complete the process, especially if conducted in the late afternoon.

e-Jamin operator in talks to continue running the system

Yesterday, The Edge reported that Pertama Digital Bhd, which operates the e-Jamin system, was in discussions with the authorities to allow the company to continue running the system.

In a Bursa Malaysia filing, Pertama said its subsidiary Dapat Vista (M) Sdn Bhd had received a letter dated April 30 from the office of chief registrar of the Federal Court, requiring it to transfer all e-Jamin funds and accrued interest to the main receiving account of the Prime Minister’s Department.

In response to the letter, Pertama said Dapat Vista was “working towards obtaining approval from the relevant regulatory authorities to continue providing services via e-Jamin moving forward”. - FMT