KOTA KINABALU: The Sabah assembly will declare the Melalap state seat of Datuk Peter Anthony vacant on Sept 3, if he does not file an appeal to the Pardons Board by Sept 2.
Sabah assembly Speaker Datuk Seri Kadzim Yahya said that the former Sabah minister had two weeks or till Sept 2 to file his appeal to the Pardons Board following his failure to overturn his conviction and sentence in connection with his forgery case at the Court of Appeal.
“If he does not make an application of appeal to the Pardons Board, then he will automatically lose the Melalap seat,” Kadzim told a press conference here Thursday (Aug 28).
Kadzim said that his office has yet to receive any formal word from Peter’s lawyers on whether he was filing an appeal with the Pardons Board.
“If there is no appeal made at the Pardons Board, then the seat will be automatically vacated in accordance with the state Constitution,” he said.
On Aug 20, a three-member Court of Appeal chaired by Justice Azman Abdullah, unanimously ruled that there was no merit in Peter’s application for a revision to have another panel of the Court of Appeal revise a decision by an earlier panel from the same court that upheld his conviction and sentence.
The second Court of Appeal decision was following the March 14 filing of a notice of motion by Peter to seek a review and setting aside of his conviction and sentence handed down by the Court of Appeal on March 4.
On March 4, the Court of Appeal ordered Peter to serve a three-year prison sentence after dismissing his final appeal against the conviction and sentence imposed by the Kuala Lumpur Sessions Court in May 2022.
On April 18, 2023, the Kuala Lumpur High Court upheld the three-year imprisonment and RM50,000 imposed by the Sessions Court. He was charged under Section 468 of the Penal Code.
He was accused, in his capacity as managing director of Asli Jati Sdn Bhd, of falsifying a letter from Universiti Malaysia Sabah’s office of the deputy vice-chancellor dated June 9, 2014, by inserting false statements with the intent to deceive.
The offence was allegedly committed at the office of the principal private secretary to the Prime Minister, Perdana Putra Building, Putrajaya, between June 13 and Aug 21, 2024.
Kadzim, meanwhile, said that the current five-year term of the state assembly would automatically dissolve on Nov 11 if the dissolution was not called by the government before the date.
“In that case, I will inform the Election Commission (EC) that the assembly has dissolved,” he added.
