PUTRAJAYA: The Court of Appeal has granted lawyer Rosli Dahlan leave to begin a judicial review challenging the seizure of his four Amanah Saham Nasional Bhd (ASNB) accounts by police and prosecutors under anti-money laundering laws.
A three-member bench comprising Justices Datuk Dr Choo Kah Sing, Datuk Nadzarin Wok Nordin and Datuk Seri Latifah Mohd Tahar unanimously allowed Rosli's appeal to overturn a High Court decision dismissing his leave application.
The appellate bench ordered the case remitted to the High Court for a full hearing on its substantive merits before a different judge or judicial commissioner.
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Delivering the panel's decision, Justice Choo held that the High Court erred in disallowing Rosli's application for leave to initiate the judicial review.
Justice Choo said the court was of the view that the High Court judge had applied a level of scrutiny more appropriate to a substantive hearing than to a leave application.
He also said Rosli had demonstrated a prima facie arguable case that the seizure orders may have been affected by mala fide, collateral purpose, irrationality or abuse of power.
"Whether those allegations can ultimately be established is a matter for a substantive hearing. The learned High Court judge therefore erred in refusing leave for this preliminary stage," Justice Choo said.
Rosli’s lawyer Harvinderjit Singh confirmed the court's decision when contacted on Thursday (Oct 29).
On Aug 14, 2024, then High Court judge Justice Tun Wan Ahmad Farid Wan Salleh (now Chief Justice) dismissed Rosli's application for leave to initiate the judicial review.
In his application filed in December 2023, Rosli named several respondents, including former inspector-general of police Tan Sri Razarudin Husain, then Commercial Crime Investigation Department director Datuk Seri Ramli Mohammed Yoosuf, the Royal Malaysia Police, former attorney general Datuk Ahmad Terrirudin Mohd Salleh, deputy public prosecutor Muhammad Zulfadli Mohd Nawawi and the Malaysian government.
Rosli is seeking, among other things, a certiorari order to quash the decision or action of the respondents who issued or caused the issuance of the seizure orders under Section 50 of the Anti-Money Laundering, Anti-Terrorism Financing and Proceeds of Unlawful Activities Act 2001. – Bernama
