PUTRAJAYA (Oct 26): The Court of Appeal on Wednesday (Oct 26) affirmed the conviction and one-month jail sentence for former Umno supreme council member Datuk Lokman Noor Adam for contempt of court for threatening 1Malaysia Development Bhd (1MDB) witness Datuk Amhari Efendi Nazaruddin.
The three-member bench led by judge Datuk Kamaludin Md Said, however, allowed a stay of the conviction and sentence, after Lokman’s counsel Tan Sri Muhammad Shafee Abdullah made an undertaking that an appeal will be filed within 14 days.
Judge Datuk Che Mohd Ruzima Ghazali, who wrote the judgement, found that there was no error made by the High Court judge in convicting Lokman of contempt of court.
There were four grounds of appeal that Shafee laid out in trying to set aside the conviction.
- The police report lodged by Lokman should be considered a privilege document;
- Intent;
- There are no particulars of the contempt or threatening words; and
- Failure by the prosecution to classify the threatening words.
“The court unanimously found that there was no error done by the High Court judge in arriving at the decision,” Che Mohd Ruzima said.
This followed that there was no need to prove intention of the actions that had been done, and the lodging of a police report cannot be considered privilege due to the last sentence, where Lokman repeated at a press conference that it was illogical that Najib was charged, when others who were also criminals obtained favours and were not charged.
The statement and report made by Lokman, said Che Mohd Ruzima, clearly pointed to Amhari, who was giving his testimony, and this had disrupted the administration of justice.
The appellate court also ruled there were sufficient particulars when the prosecution laid out the report and transcript of Lokman’s press conference to institute the contempt proceedings, and that the prosecution had properly classified the threatening words.
Che Mohd Ruzima said the threatening words were not only aimed at Amhari, an ex-special officer to former prime minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak, but also former 1MDB chief executive officer Datuk Shahrol Azral Ibrahim Halmi, who was the next witness.
With regard to the cross-appeal by the prosecution against the jail sentence, the judge said that normally, a court in its appellate function would be slow in intervening in the sentence unless there is injustice.
“Here, after perusing over public interests, we found that the sentence is just and reasonable. We hold that there is no merit in both the defence and prosecution’s appeals. Hence, both appeals are dismissed,” he said.
The third judge in the proceedings was Datuk Nordin Hassan. Deputy public prosecutor Datuk Mohd Dusuki Mokhtar appeared for the prosecution.
On July 15, High Court judge Datuk Collin Lawrence Sequerah found Lokman guilty of contempt, and sentenced him to one month’s jail for disrupting the administration of justice.
The judge said Lokman’s threats against the witness in 2019 do constitute harassment, and amounted to interference in administering justice and the court process.
“It is imperative that a witness should be free to give evidence in a trial. The police report [made by Lokman] does not exonerate him. The statements he made were to threaten the witness and detract him from testifying,” the judge said.
“It is not the business of the respondent (Lokman) to make sure witnesses tell the truth," Sequerah said, adding that there was an element of mala fide (bad intention) in Lokman making the statements after lodging the police report.
“I find that the act of the respondent gives rise to real interference and interference in the administration of justice, which constitutes contempt of court,” the High Court judge added.
Lokman lodged the report on Sept 25, 2019, and about three hours later uttered the same at a media conference conducted online.