Court orders MACC to furnish written statement to company director
KUALA LUMPUR: The High Court here yesterday allowed a revision application by a company director to compel the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC) to furnish a fresh written statement of facts in favour of his defence in relation to four corruption charges against him.
Datuk Seri Sim Choo Thiam, 54, is facing four charges of soliciting and accepting bribes of RM15 million to secure projects from an agency under the Home Ministry.
According to Sim, the fact in favour of the defence is he (Sim) was charged in court before the MACC recorded a statement from former Home Minister Datuk Seri Hamzah Zainuddin, whose name was mentioned in Sim’s charges.
Sim also claimed that his cautioned statements recorded by the MACC on Feb 16 and 28 last year did not support the alleged corruption charges against him.
Justice K. Muniandy in his ruling directed the anti-graft agency to furnish the statement after finding there were favourable facts to be disclosed by the prosecution to the accused before trial, which caters for pretrial disclosure for the accused to be on equal arms with the prosecution to fight his battle.
“The disclosure of favourable facts does not at all impinge on the prosecutorial discretion by the public prosecutor nor does it forbid the investigative powers of the MACC. Investigative powers of the MACC are not limited until the trial concludes, as there may be unforeseen circumstances that require and validate additional investigation.
“On that score, the accused has suffered injustice in the eyes of the law, which ought to be corrected by this court exercising its supervisory jurisdiction, which is to observe and ensure the law as in section 51A (1)(c) of the Criminal Procedure Code (CPC) is correctly applied,” he said.
With that, the court allows the application for revision by the accused and the respondent (MACC) is allowed 14 days for compliance with the order.
The accused was represented by counsel Datuk Hisyam Teh Poh Teik, Low Wei Loke and Kee Wei Lon while Deputy Public Prosecutor Nor Asma Ahmad, Rasyidah Murni Adzmi and Muhammad Asraf Mohamed Tahir appeared for the prosecution.
On July 4, 2023, Sim filed a revision application under Section 51A of CPC for the prosecution to furnish a fresh written statement of facts favourable to his defence after
Sessions Court judge Rozina Ayob on Sept 27 dismissed Sim’s application to compel the prosecution to furnish him with the new written statement of facts.
The trial of the case has been set for 10 days from May 6 to 10 and 13 to 17, 2024, and the prosecution will call 20 witnesses to testify.
On May 10, 2023, Sim was charged with soliciting an RM15 million bribe from Hep Kim Hong, the managing director of Asia Coding Centre Sdn Bhd, through Syed Abu Zafran Syed Ahmad, as an inducement for Hamzah to award projects to the company.
He was also charged with three counts of accepting RM15 million in bribes from the same individual as an inducement for Hamzah to do similar things.
The offences were allegedly committed at two different locations — Shaas Holdings office and a parking lot at Solaris Dutamas, Jalan Dutamas 1 here, between June and July 2021.
The charges were framed under Section 16(a)(B) of the MACC Act 2009, which is punishable under Section 24(1) of the same Act, which carries a maximum imprisonment of 20 years and a fine of not less than five times the amount of the bribe or RM10,000, whichever is higher, upon conviction. — Bernama