PUTRAJAYA: The Federal Court has dismissed a leave application by former Tronoh assemblyman Paul Yong, who sought to review the Federal Court’s decision that affirmed his conviction and sentence for raping his domestic helper.
A three-judge panel, chaired by Chief Judge of Malaya Justice Hashim Hamzah, said Yong’s application failed to meet the high threshold required under Rule 137 of the Rules of the Federal Court 1995 for a review to commence.
“We are of the view that parties have been given full opportunity. There is no breach of natural justice. We therefore dismiss the application,” Justice Hashim said yesterday.
The others on the bench were Federal Court judges Justices Mohd Nazlan Mohd Ghazali and Collin Lawrence Sequerah.
Yong did not react as the decision was delivered. The 55-year-old appeared before the court handcuffed in an orange prison jumpsuit and a crew haircut. His family was also present in court.
Yong had filed the application for leave to review and to set aside the Federal Court’s decision by an earlier panel in October last year.
He is currently serving his jail sentence at Kajang Prison, beginning Oct 1, 2025, following the Federal Court’s dismissal of his final appeal, which upheld his conviction and sentence.
Earlier, his lawyer, Datuk Hisyam Teh Poh Teik, argued that Yong should be granted leave to review, as the applicant had suffered a grave miscarriage of justice due to the earlier panel inadvertently denying him his right to be heard.
Hisyam said a breach of natural justice occurred in the case when the learned trial judge failed to consider Yong’s Section 112 statement, which he had given to the police during the investigation.
Deputy public prosecutor Datuk Yusaini Amer Abdul Karim submitted that Yong’s case was not fit and proper for the court to use its inherent powers to conduct a review.
“It is unreasonable for questions of fact and law to be relitigated at this stage. If such were the case, there would be no end to a proceeding and defeat the principle of finality in a case,” DPP Yusaini said.
He said the issues raised by the applicant had already been tried and argued, and had formed the basis of his appeals at the Court of Appeal and the Federal Court.
