Reprieve for ill businessman

KUALA LUMPUR: A businessman suffering from blood cancer was granted a stay on his jail term, pending an appeal over accusations he used forged documents to remove his wife from their company.

The Court of Appeal panel, lead by Justice Tengku Maimun Tuan Mat, allowed the stay application by Datuk Zainulabidin Mat Akhir, 66, against a 10-year prison sentence handed down by a Sessions Court.

Zainulabidin’s lawyer, Tan Sri Dr Muhammad Shafee Abdullah, earlier submitted that the stay was necessary because his client was undergoing chemotherapy for fourth-stage multiple myeloma.

He said sending the accused to jail when there was an appeal pending was against the presumption of innocence.

On Oct 16, Judicial Commissioner Mohamad Shariff Abu Samah denied the defence’s request for a postponement of his appeal.

Instead the High Court dismissed his appeal and affirmed the conviction and sentence. He also denied the defence’s application for a stay.

DPP Jasmee Hameeza Jaafar said it was up to the discretion of the High Court to deny a stay, as a person that had been convicted did not have the presumption of innocence.

“As for his health issues, the Prisons Department would allow the accused to go for his treatment,” he said.

Zainulabidin, father of actress Ummi Nazeera, was convicted by the Sessions Court in 2015 for using forged documents and sentenced to 10 years jail.

The documents he had forged included a Security Transfer form for transfer of 1,680,000 units of shares of Mutiara Efektif (M) Sdn Bhd belonging to his wife Datuk Seri Maziah Musa, 51, to his son Ahmad Fikhri, on Dec 26, 2006. Musa, 51, to his son Ahmad Fikhri, on Dec 26, 2006.