‘Judges soft in meting out sentences’

KUALA LUMPUR: Judges are “soft” when it comes to meting out sentences in corruption cases, says former Court of Appeal judge Datuk Mohd Noor Abdullah.

Those guilty of corruption should be jailed instead of being fined a paltry amount compared to the vast sums of money gained from the crime, he added.

“What has happened to our judges? Corruption cases involving money end up being punished with fines, and the amount is such that the criminal can still profit after being fined. True or not?” Mohd Noor asked.

The former judge, who is a member of the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission’s (MACC) Anti-Corruption Advisory Board (ACAB), said he wants to remind judges that corruption cases often involve lots of money.

“Send them (those found guilty of corruption) to prison, then we can say you are contributing to justice,” he said at the sidelines of a media conference after a meeting of the ACAB here yesterday.

Mohd Noor said the law states that a person who commits an offence shall be punished with a fine, then imprisonment, then both.

“Why don’t we reverse this and go from the top to the bottom?

“Try it. A person commits an offence, no fine. Impose a jail sentence first, then if there are mitigating factors, you scale it down.

“That’s how it should be,” he said.

Asked whether he felt the current crop of judges had gone “soft”, Mohd Noor replied:

“Judges now are soft because our society has gone soft.”

He said that judges sometimes did not check thoroughly enough on the reasons given by defence lawyers why their clients should not be given harsh sentences.

Separately, ACAB chairman Tunku Abdul Aziz Tunku Ibrahim said the board hopes that the Conference of Rulers will voice a strong stand against corruption in light of the alleged attempt by an individual to offer the Sultan of Johor RM2mil for a “Tan Sri” title.

Tunku Abdul Aziz said he was heartened to note that the Johor Sultan and other Malay Rulers are taking a strong stand against corruption.

“We are seeing that it is not just the rakyat who are coming forward to support MACC strongly, but also our Rulers, who are voicing out their stand.

“My hope is that the Conference of Rulers can give support.

“That will encourage us at MACC to do our work more effectively,” he added.

On another matter, Tunku Abdul Aziz said the board will be meeting with the Chief Secretary to the Government to discuss ways to help strengthen the fight against corruption.

One of the issues which will be raised is the selection process for high-ranking civil servants, which Tunku Abdul Aziz says must be as thorough as possible.

“For the very key positions, it’s important to put the right people,” he said.