PUTRAJAYA: The estate of the late Karpal Singh have filed a petition of appeal in a bid to remove the "black mark" of a criminal conviction from his name.
Lawyer Zaleha Al-Hayat, of Messrs Karpal Singh and Co, filed the petition of appeal at the Court of Appeal registry in the Palace of Justice here on Thursday.
The court fixed case management on Sept 21.
Karpal's son, lawyer Ramkarpal Singh, said the estate was applying to have Karpal's widow, Gurmit Kaur, act as the substitute appellant.
He said while a criminal case usually comes to an end when the accused party is deceased, an exception can be made if the appeal would benefit the accused's estate.
"If there is monetery interest for his estate, in this case the pension and benefits that come with serving as an MP for 40 years, then an exception," said Ramkarpal.
He said the court had instructed a substitute be named for the appeal to continue, adding that Gurmit would stand in as she was the administrator of Karpal's estate.
The petition of appeal was over Karpal's conviction for uttering seditious words regarding the Perak royalty in the 2009 Perak constitution crisis.
Among the 10 grounds of appeal was that the High Court had erred in its finding of guilt by failing to appreciate the argument that a ruler's decisions could be challenged and that the Federal Constitution even allows a ruler to be taken to court over it.
The petition also states that the Judge was mistaken in not finding the case against Karpal defective because it did not clearly state under which provision of the Sedition Act did Karpal's statement have a seditious tendency.
The petition cited the cases of Tan Boon Liat and Teh Cheng Poh to support its argument.
On Feb 21, Karpal was convicted and fined RM4,000 by Kuala Lumpur High Court judge Azman Abdullah, who spared the elderly Karpal a custodial sentence.
Karpal, then 73, was found guilty of uttering seditious words against the Sultan of Perak at his legal firm in Jalan Pudu Lama, Kuala Lumpur between noon and 12.30pm on Feb 6, 2009.
He had said that the removal of Datuk Seri Nizar Jamaluddin as Perak Mentri Besar by the Perak Ruler could be questioned in a court of law.
The charge under Section 4(1)(b) of the Sedition Act carries up to three years’ jail or a RM5,000 fine or both.
Karpal was killed in a road accident at the North South Expressway near Gua Tempurung, on April 17 before he could challenge the conviction.
The accident also claimed the life of his long time personal assistant Michael Cornelius.
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