Ex-AIAC head has 24 hours to appear in court
KUALA LUMPUR: Former Asian International Arbitration Centre (AIAC) director Datuk Prof Dr N. Sundra Rajoo has been given until today to appear before a Sessions Court here after failing to show up in court.
Sundra, who was under investigation by the Malaysian AntiCorruption Commission (MACC), was due to face three criminal charges yesterday.
DPP Kamal Baharin Omar applied for an arrest warrant following Sundra’s absence.
Sessions Court judge Azura Alwi, however, rejected the application as the court was informed that Sundra would be attending a High Court proceeding today.
“We will give him another 24 hours to be present after the High Court proceedings,” she said.
Lawyer K. Shanmuga, who is representing Sundra in the High Court matter, was present at the proceeding as amicus curiae (friend of the court).
Sundra, 63, led the AIAC for nine years.
He resigned from his post in November last year when he was investigated for alleged misconduct, including the use of public funds to influence ministers to get his term extended.
Early this month, Sundra filed a leave application for judicial review at the Kuala Lumpur High Court.
He is seeking a declaration that he, as a senior officer of the AIAC, was entitled to protection for acts and omissions in his official capacity.
Sundra, a former FIFA Ethics Committee judge, was held overnight after flying in from Zurich, Switzerland, where FIFA has its headquarters, in November.
He was released after a magistrate dismissed an application for a remand order by the MACC on the grounds that he has diplomatic immunity as head of the AIAC.
Sundra reportedly questioned MACC’s plans to charge him over offences allegedly committed during his time in office, a day before his attempt to assert immunity from the High Court.
Sundra said that as a former high-ranking officer of the AIAC, he had immunity from any legal action taken against him concerning his period of service.
The High Court is scheduled to hear a leave application for judicial review by Sundra on the purported immunity today.