KUALA LUMPUR, Oct 20 – The High Court has referred former Batu Kawan UMNO division vice chief Datuk Seri Khairuddin Abu Hassan and lawyer Matthias Chang Wen Chieh’s case to the Federal Court on Monday to determine whether the charges they faced are triable under the Security Offences (Special Measures) Act 2012 (SOSMA).
Judge Datuk Mohd Azman Husin said the court will forward three questions on constitutional issues to the Apex Court soon, among others, does the charge against the accused persons as tendered before this court under Section 124L of Penal Code, fall outside the constitutional ambit of SOSMA?
“If the answer to the first question is in affirmative, do the accused persons have the right to be released on bail forthwith? If the answer to the first question is in negative, should the trial against the two accused, be conducted in the Sessions Court taking into account the sentencing provision under Section 124L of Penal Code?,” he said.
In the same time, the judge had also made the ruling after hearing the submissions from the defence lawyers Mohamed Hanif Khatri Abdulla and also Zainur Zakaria with the Deputy Public Prosecutor Mohd Masri Daud and Mohamad Abazafree Mohd Abbas.
The duo had on Oct 13, filed a motion under Section 35 of Courts of Judicature Act 1964, at the High Court seeking several orders from the High Court, among others, that the charge against them under section 124L of the Penal Code does not fall under SOSMA and therefore, wanted the court to release them on reasonable bail.
Khairuddin, 53, and Chang, 65, were charged with attempting to sabotage Malaysia’s banking and financial services under Section 124L of the Penal Code (Act 547) read with Section 34 of the same Code, which carries a jail term of up to 15 years upon conviction.
He allegedly committed the offence at five locations between June 28 and Aug 26, this year. The locations are the office of the France Economic and Financial Crimes Division chief in Paris; Charing Cross Police station, London, United Kingdom; office of the Switzerland Attorney General in Bern; WaiChan Police station, Hongkong and Cantonment Police Headquarters, Singapore.
