KUALA LUMPUR, March 31 — The verdict on former Sabah Minister of infrastructure Development, Datuk Peter Anthony, over a charge of forging a letter on contract work for maintenance and service of the mechanical and electrical system (M&E) of Universiti Malaysia Sabah (UMS), will be known on May 26.
Sessions Court Judge Azura Alwi set the date after the hearing of arguments of both the defence and prosecution at end of the defence’s case.
“I will give the reasons for my judgment when delivery the decision,” she said.
The prosecution was conducted by deputy public prosecutor Datuk Wan Shaharuddin Wan Ladin with Haresh Prakash Somiah and Francine Cheryl Rajendram while counsel S Devanandan represented Peter.
Earlier, Devanandan argued that based on the statement of Peter who was the first defence witness (SD1) and his personal assistant Imy Christopher (SD2), the support letter on the contract work of M&E maintenance and service for UMS was not typed in the office of Asli Jati Engineering Sdn Bhd (AJESB) by third prosecution witness (SP3) Mohd Shukur Mohd Din.
He said it was unreasonable for the prosecution to state that the “title” on the letter had been added by Peter.
“The testimony of Nurul Aiman Azmail (SD3) clearly states that if a forensic analysis is conducted on the computer’s hard drive, the analysis will show whether the draft letter has been typed in the computer and whether there are any additions to the draft,” said the lawyer.
Meanwhile, Wan Shaharuddin said Peter falsified the letter typed by Peter in his office and Mohd Shukur in his statement said he left an empty letter which have the letterhead of the deputy vice-chancellor in Peter’s office and the next day the received a printed letter from Peter which had the date and content as well as the title.
“We urge the court to record that the findings of the prosecution have proven the case beyond reasonable doubts,” he said.
Peter, who was exempted from attending the proceeding today under Section 264 of the Criminal Procedure Code (CPC) as the politician has to attend an official event in Tenom Sabah.
On December 14, the court ordered Peter, 51, to enter his defence after finding the prosecution has proven a prima facie case against him.
Peter who is the former Parti Warisan Sabah (Warisan) vice president gave his statement on the witness stand on February 9 and 10.
Peter, as the managing director of Asli Jati Sdn Bhd, was charged with forging a letter from the Universiti Malaysia Sabah deputy vice-chancellor’s office dated June 9, 2014 by inserting a false statement in the title of the letter with the intention of using it to deceive the office of the principal private secretary to the prime minister at the Perdana Putra building in Putrajaya between June 13 and August 21, 2014.
He was charged under Section 468 of the Penal Code, which carries a maximum jail term of seven years and a fine if convicted. — Bernama
