PUTRAJAYA; The Government and the police succeeded in reversing a court ruling that awarded a retiree RM1.43mil for alleged wrongful arrest and false imprisonment.
Court of Appeal judge Justice Aziah Ali, who chaired a three-man panel, held that a High Court judge had erred in a ruling in favour of Dickson Ng Sek Wah.
Justice Aziah ordered Ng to pay RM1,000 in costs.
On Nov 9, 2010, Shah Alam High Court judge Justice Hinshawati Shariff awarded Ng, 63, RM1.43mil with interest in damages over his claim against the police and the Government.
Ng, then a staff of a forwarding company, was detained in 1997 for questioning for allegedly importing a sub-machine gun from Finland without a valid firearm licence.
The Government and police appealed against liability and quantum of damages for unlawful arrest and detention/false imprisonment of Ng.
Among others, they argued that the remand order issued against Ng by a magistrate's court was never set aside by a criminal court and could not be challenged in a civil court.
They argued that no damages for false imprisonment could be ordered against a police officer for detaining a person pursuant to a remand order issued by a magistrate.
Ng sued eight police officers, including the Inspector-General of Police and the Government in 2000, claiming that he was seriously injured during the detention.
He claimed that he was detained on June 20, 1997 at about 3.50pm at Petaling Jaya police station.
He claimed that he was brought before Petaling Jaya magistrate's court on June 21 and was remanded for four days.
Ng claimed that he had only assisted another company in the import of the weapon as a sample to participate in an open tender called by the Home Ministry, on behalf of the police.
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