A-G's appeal to strike out civil suits dismissed
Published on: Thursday, April 02, 2015
Putra Jaya: Two civil suits brought against Attorney-General Tan Sri Abdul Gani Patail and 11 others over alleged wrongful prosecution will go for trial at the High Court.This follows the Court of Appeal's decision here Wednesday to unanimously dismiss the appellants' appeal to strike out the two civil suits brought by former Bukit Aman commercial crime investigation department director Datuk Ramli Yusuff and lawyer Rosli Dahlan.A three-member panel led by Justice Datuk Dr Hamid Sultan Abu Backer said there was no merit in the appeal, taking into account that the appellants did not file their statement of defence and also did not deny the allegations in the statement of claim.
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Hamid, who presided on the panel with justices Datuk Varghese George Varughese and Vernon Ong Lam Kiat, said two issues were argued by the parties in the appeal on the cause of action and lack of particulars of the allegations stated in the statement of claim.In his brief grounds, he (Hamid) said the appellants had withdrawn the issue on prosecutorial immunity.Counsel Tan Sri Cecil Abraham, representing the appellants applied for a stay of the proceedings in the High Court, pending filing of an application for leave to appeal the Court of Appeal's decision to the Federal Court but Hamid told him to make a formal application.He also told Abraham to write to Chief Justice Tun Arifin Zakaria or Chief Judge of Malaya Tan Sri Zulkefli Ahmad Makinudin if he wanted the matter to be heard before another high court judge.
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Hamid ordered the appellants to pay RM25,000 in legal costs each to Ramli and Rosli for court proceedings in the high court and Court of Appeal.The appellants also included former Inspector-General of Police Tan Sri Musa Hassan, Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC), the police, former head of hearing and appeal at the Attorney-General's Chambers Datuk Nordin Hassan and several other MACC officers.
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On April 11, last year, Judicial Commissioner Vazeer Alam Mydin Meera dismissed the appellants' application to strike out the two suits, ruling that absolute prosecutorial immunity for public servants had no place in a progressive democratic society.Ramli filed the civil suit on Nov 1, 2013 against Abdul Gani and 11 others, seeking RM128.5 million in damages, claiming that the appellants had maliciously and without reasonable cause investigated and charged him in court on four charges under the Anti-Corruption Act and Penal Code.He has since been acquitted of the charges against him.Rosli filed a RM47 million suit against Abdul Gani and 10 others on Nov 22, 2013, alleging the appellants conspired to arrest and charge him in court for an MACC case. He has also been acquitted of the charges against him.Stay up-to-date by following Daily Express’s Telegram channel.
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