Convicted former Sabah minister Peter Anthony today failed in his bid to secure a retrial of his forgery charge after the Court of Appeal dismissed his application for a review, filed on March 14.
Justice Azman Abdullah, chairing a three-judge panel, said there was no failure of justice regarding a police report lodged by prosecution witness Shukur Din, which was argued extensively in the final appeal last year.
“(Peter) was given the right to be heard. The application for review is rejected.
“The previous appeal bench’s failure to include (Shukur’s police report as fresh evidence) in its broad grounds does not amount to a failure of justice,” he said.
Also on the panel hearing the review application were Justices Noorin Badarudin and Hayatul Akmal Abdul Aziz.
On March 4, a Court of Appeal panel comprising Justices Ahmad Zaidi Ibrahim, Zaini Mazlan and Azmi Ariffin delivered its broad oral grounds of judgment on Peter’s appeal.
The full judgment, written by Zaini and made available to parties early this week, explained why the fresh evidence did not help to exonerate Peter.
Shukur had alleged that a Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission investigating officer concocted the last paragraph of his police report to implicate Peter in using Universiti Malaysia Sabah (UMS) to mislead then prime minister Najib Razak into securing a contract.
Peter contended that Shukur’s police report on Aug 9, 2018 exonerated him. He said the non-disclosure of the evidence at trial had prejudiced him.
The former state minister in the Warisan-led Sabah government between 2018 and 2020 contended that he was deprived of the right to a fair trial by not being able to cross-examine Shukur on the report.
The Court of Appeal last year granted Peter’s application to admit Shukur’s police report as additional evidence, noting that he had only come across it through a friend.
The former Parti Kesejahteraan Demokratik Masyarakat president’s review application had sought to set aside the Court of Appeal’s final ruling convicting him of the offence, and for the ordering of a retrial.
Earlier today, lawyer Haniff Khatri Abdulla, appearing for Peter, told the court that the 16-page broad grounds made no reference to the fresh evidence admitted.
“It was only stated in the 24-page judgment, which amounts to an afterthought,” said Haniff, who was assisted by lawyer Rosal Azimin Ahmad.
Deputy public prosecutor Wan Shaharuddin Wan Ladin responded that Peter had failed to meet the legal threshold for a review, adding that the fresh evidence was already thoroughly examined during the appeal.
“There is no breach or miscarriage of justice to allow the application,” said Wan Shaharuddin, who was assisted by deputy public prosecutor Haresh Prakash Somiah.
Peter was sentenced to three years’ jail and fined RM50,000 by the sessions court in Kuala Lumpur in 2022. He has paid the fine and is currently serving his sentence.
The former Melalap assemblyman was convicted of falsifying documents related to a maintenance and service contract at UMS 11 years ago.
He was charged in his capacity as managing director of Syarikat Asli Jati Sdn Bhd with forging a letter from the office of the UMS deputy vice-chancellor, dated June 9, 2014, by inserting a false statement to use it for fraudulent purposes.
