Teacher ordered to enter defence in UPSR leak case

PUTRAJAYA: A Tamil school teacher who was acquitted of a charge in relation to leaked UPSR examination papers was ordered to enter his defence by the Court of Appeal yesterday.

The panel of judges led by Datuk Mohtarudin Baki, who sat together with Datuk Vernon Ong Lam Kiat and Datuk Harmindar Singh, delivered a majority judgment.

In the 2-1 judgment, Mohtarudin and Vernon were in the majority while Harminder dissented.

“We (Mohtarudin and Vernon) find there is merit to the appeal. L. Subbarau is ordered to enter his defence,” said Mohtarudin.

He said they agree that the power for the classification of the documents lies with the officer.

However, he said Harminder’s view is that each and every paper should be classified under the Official Secrets Act (OSA) and that the failure to classify each and every paper was fatal to the prosecution.

He then fixed June 16 for mention in the Seremban sessions court.

Subbarau was charged under Section 8(1) of OSA , for possession of images of leaked 2014 UPSR examination papers.

He was charged with five counts of possession of Mathematics Paper 1 and Paper 2, Bahasa Tamil (Comprehensive), Bahasa Tamil (Writing) and Science documents, which were allegedly stored in his handphone.

In April 2015, a sessions court in Seremban acquitted Subbarau at the end of the prosecution’s case.

Later, an appeal against the discharge and acquittal was dismissed by the High Court on Sept 5, 2016.

The prosecution then appealed against the High Court’s decision at the Court of Appeal.

During submissions on April 12 this year, the prosecution contended that Malaysian Examinations Board former director Dr Naimah Ishak was empowered to classify documents under the OSA and that Section 16A of the OSA states that “a certificate by a public officer to be conclusive evidence”.

Subbarau’s lawyer M. Kulasegaran said the director has no authority to classify the documents under the OSA.