PUTRAJAYA: The Court of Appeal on Tuesday (Nov 3) fixed Dec 3 as the new hearing date for a former magistrate's final appeal against his conviction and sentence of 12 years' jail and a RM1.05mil fine after he was found guilty on six charges of soliciting and accepting bribes from a businessman in 2019.
The three-member bench of Datuk Azman Abdullah, Datuk Hayatul Akmal Abdul Aziz and K. Muniandy set the date after lawyer Nor Shahid Abd Malik, representing Mohamad Amin Shahul Hamid, 45, informed the court that the defence was not ready with its submissions and documents for the appeal.
"You (lawyer) appear unprepared, and yet this is your client's final appeal," said Muniandy.
Earlier, Nor Shahid presented submissions on the appeal but failed to answer several questions posed by the bench on the issues he raised.
This prompted several judges on the panel to reprimand the lawyer and remind him to prepare thoroughly to convince the panel.
Nor Shahid said he had only recently taken over the case at the appeal stage and applied for today's proceedings to be adjourned to give him time to review the written submissions.
Deputy public prosecutor Datuk Wan Shaharuddin Wan Ladin objected, noting that the case had been postponed several times.
"I am not without compassion, Yang Arif, but this case has been adjourned several times. Perhaps the lawyer could be given an hour to prepare before continuing with submissions," he said.
Nor Shahid, however, said an hour was insufficient and sought the panel's consideration to adjourn Tuesday's proceedings.
The court then allowed the adjournment, taking into account that the proceedings were the appellant's last opportunity to present his appeal.
On Jan 17, 2025, the Kuantan High Court upheld Mohamad Amin's 12-year jail sentence and RM1.05mil fine, or 72 months' jail in default, after dismissing his appeal against the conviction and sentence imposed by the Sessions Court in 2022.
Mohamad Amin, who was serving as a magistrate at the Lipis and Raub courts at the time, was charged with one count of soliciting a RM100,000 bribe and five counts of accepting RM110,000 in bribes from Hassan Basri Ahmad Sutan Modo around Lipis and Raub between July 5 and Oct 22, 2019.
The bribes were allegedly inducements for Mohamad Amin to impose only a fine and not a jail sentence on Hassan Basri, who was charged with possessing contraband cigarettes in a case handled by the appellant.
He was charged under Section 16(a)(B) and Section 17(a) of the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC) Act 2009, punishable under Section 24 of the same Act, which provides for a maximum of 20 years' jail and a fine of not less than five times the value of the bribe or RM10,000, whichever is higher. - Bernama
