Court allows A-G to start proceedings against lawyer
PUTRAJAYA: The Federal Court has granted an ex-parte application for leave by Attorney-General Tommy Thomas to initiate contempt proceedings against a lawyer who allegedly criticised the proceedings and decision of a court case.
The decision was made yesterday by a three-man bench headed by Justice Tan Sri Ramly Ali.
The judges had set March 13 for the hearing against lawyer Arunachalam Kasi, who had written two articles published on the Aliran portal. The other two judges were Justices Datuk Rohana Yusuf and Datuk Tengku Maimun Tuan Mat.
The articles written by Arunachalam had allegedly criticised the affidavit by Court of Appeal Judge Datuk Dr Abdul Hamid Abu Backer on alleged judicial misconduct.
The application was issued by senior federal counsels Datuk Amarjeet Singh, Alice Loke and Suzana Atan, who represented the attorney-general.
Amarjeet said the first article, titled “How a dissenting judgment sparked a major judicial crisis”, was published on Feb 16 while the second, titled “Tommy Thomas must look into arbitration centre that sparked judicial crisis”, was published on Feb 22.
Amarjeet said in both articles, the respondent had criticised the Federal Court’s proceedings and decision in the PCP Construction vs Leap Modulation case on Nov 7 last year.
He added that the allegations were scandalising contempt and meddling in the governance of justice.
“Such interferences would happen when there is an action or statement, which could weaken public trust on the governance of justice in the country.
“The power of law is based on public confidence and is important to stabilise the people.
“Therefore, public confidence shouldn’t be threatened by baseless accusations on the integrity of the judges,” he added.