By Aliza Shah – September 12, 2023 @ 1:53pm
Lawyer Datuk Geethan Ram Vincent. -NSTP FILE
KUALA LUMPUR: The prosecution’s justification for additional time to submit a petition of appeal in the 1Malaysia Development Bhd (1MDB) audit report tampering case, citing its public interest status, was deemed an unjustified excuse.
Lawyer Datuk Geethan Ram Vincent said the law was not new and the prosecution was certainly aware of the time limitation.
"The prosecution should be extra careful. There must be a valid and justified reason for the delay in filing the petition and the courts will not accept flimsy excuses.
"Needing time for review is certainly not a justified excuse.
"These strict timelines are fair as it applies to both the defence and prosecution," he said when contacted.
Geethan said the prosecution may now appeal to the Federal Court, but he believed that it was highly unlikely for them to succeed given that they have yet to even file the application to file out of time.
"It lapsed in July, and no application has been made to date," he said.
The Court of Appeal yesterday struck out an appeal by the Attorney-General’s Chambers over Datuk Seri Najib Razak’s acquittal in the 1MDB audit report tampering case.
The three-judge panel chaired by Judge Datuk Hadhariah Syed Ismail together with Datuk Ahmad Zaidi Ibrahim and Datuk Azmi Ariffin unanimously rejected the prosecution’s request to file the appeal petition outside the time limit.
The deadline for the prosecution to file the appeal petition is July 6, which is within 14 days after the appeal record is obtained, which was on June 26.
Deputy public prosecutor Datuk Yusaini Amer Abdul Karim, when arguing his case, said the delay in filing the case was because they needed more time to study the case, adding that the decision to file the petition came from the new Attorney-General, Datuk Ahmad Terrirudin Salleh. Thus they were hoping to obtain another case management to allow them to file for an extension of time to file their petition.
Judge Hadhariah said the prosecution team had been instructed to file an extension of time three times during the case management sessions conducted on July 31, Aug 28 and Aug 30.
Meanwhile, Senior lawyer Datuk Joy Wilson Appukuttan questioned the reason the previous Attorney-General Tan Sri Idrus Harun, failed to instruct his team to file the petition.
"This is a high-profile case and there is greater care to observe the timeline and be vigilant," he said.
He said the prosecution team should have requested more time to file the appeal petition, and this request should have been made before the expiration of the deadline for filing the petition to appeal.