4 theSun | TUESDAY MARCH 17 2009

news without borders

by Humayun Kabir Nizar appeals against

newsdesk@thesundaily.com

IPOH: The High Court in Ipoh yesterday referred

to the Federal Court for a decision whether Perak
State Assembly Speaker V. Sivakumar or the Elec-
tion Commission (EC) has the power to declare
Federal Court to decide transfer to Federal Court
KUALA LUMPUR: Datuk Seri Mo-
hammad Nizar Jamaluddin yesterday
filed an appeal against the High Court
decision to refer his suit against Perak

if Siva has final say

state assembly seats vacant.
Judicial Commissioner Ridwan Ibrahim
decided to refer to the Federal Court after hear-
ing submissions by lawyers for Sivakumar and
those of assemblymen Mohd Osman Mohd Jaitu
(Changat Jering), Jamaluddin Mohd Radzi (Be-
hrang) and Hee Yit Foong (Jelapang).
The trio had filed a suit against Sivakumar for
declaring their seats “vacant “ on the strength
of their pre-dated resignation letters, and sub-
sequently informing the EC to hold by-elections
for the seats.
The EC, however, decided against it as the
three assemblymen had claimed they had not
resigned. The trio then applied to the High Court
to declare that their state seats were not vacant.
The proceedings yesterday were held with the
public locked out after Ridwan declared the open
court as his chambers and all media personnel,
the public and lawyers not connected with the
case were asked to leave the room.
Lead lawyer for the three independent assem-
blymen, Datuk Mohd Hafarizam Haron, later told
reporters that his legal team had finalised five
draft questions for Ridwan to endorse before be-
ing posted to the Federal Court for determination
of the legality of Sivakumar’s action in declaring
the state seats as vacant.
He said the five questions will be made avail-
able to the media today as Ridwan had yet to sign
the official version.
Immediately after, Sivakumar’s lawyers an-
nounced that they will file an appeal to the Ap-
peals Court against the High Court’s decision to
transfer the case to the Federal Court.
Sivakumar’s lead counsel Chan Kok Keong,
who held a press conference outside the court,
said they were not participating in the court
proceedings (to draft the questions) because
they did not agree that the case be transferred to
the Federal Court under Section 63 of the Perak
Constitution and under Section 84 of the Courts
of Judicature Act 1964.
“We are going to appeal against Judicial
Commissioner Ridwan Ibrahim’s decision as
the two sections cannot be applied to this case,”
he said.
Chan said under Section 63 of the Perak Con-
stitution the application by plaintiffs’ lawyers in
the High Court to transfer the case to the Federal
Court is not valid as the High Court has no such
jurisdiction.
“The application can only be submitted
directly to the Federal Court,” he said, adding
that Section 84 was not applicable as it refers
to the Federal Constitution and not the Perak
Constitution.
Chan also denied Mohd Hafarizam’s allega-
tion that Sivakumar’s legal team was purposely
delaying and prolonging the court cases to cause
the dissolution of the state assembly if it does
not convene before May 15.
“What we are all along doing is to strictly
follow the laws of the country and not otherwise
as stated by Mohd Hafararizam,” Chan said.
Sivakumar was represented by five private
lawyers. They are Chan, Nga Hock Cheh, Leong
Cheok Keng, Augustine Anthony and Mohd Asri
Othman.
Ridwan had on March 3, 5 and 10 ruled that
Sivakumar, being a public servant, could not
use private lawyers and had to be represented
by State Legal Adviser Datuk Ahmad Kamal
Shahid.
Sivakumar appealed against Ridwan’s order
to the Appeals Court in Kuala Lumpur which
decided that he had basis to engage his own
lawyers to represent him in the two cases.
The three assemblymen were represented by
six lawyers – Mohd Hafarizam, Firoz Hussein
Ahmad Jamalludin, Badrul Hishah Abdul Wa-
hab, Faizul Hilmi Ahmad Zambri, Syed Faisal
Syed Abdullah and M. Reza Hassan, who are the
same lawyers representing Zambry.
Meanwhile, lawyer Ng Mung Yin is holding
a watching brief for DAP Perak while T Shan
represented the Bar Council.
Mentri Besar Datuk Dr Zambry Abdul
Kadir to the Federal Court.
His lawyer, Amer Hamzah Arshad,
said they had also filed a notice of mo-
tion for a stay of proceedings to refer
the case to the Federal Court, which
was scheduled to be heard on Friday.
Amer Hamzah said the notice of
appeal was filed at the High Court
Registry here, while the notice of mo-
tion was filed at the Court of Appeal
Registry in Putrajaya yesterday.
On March 6, Justice Lau Bee Lan
ruled that there were constitutional
issues involving the interpretation of
Article 16 (6) of the Perak Constitution
and later referred four constitutional
questions to the Federal Court for
determination.
Mohammad Nizar, 52, who is also
Perak PAS deputy commissioner,
filed for a judicial review on Feb 13,
seeking a declaration that he is the
rightful mentri besar of Perak and
an injunction to bar Zambry from
discharging his duties as the mentri
besar. – Bernama
Charged with posting
unsavoury comments
KUALA TERENGGANU: A couple
was charged in the sessions court
here yesterday with two counts of
posting unsavoury comments on
the website of the Sultan of Perak’s
office with intention to offend oth-

‘Actress Sujatha drank paraquat unknowingly’ ers.

by S. Tamarai Chelvi
newsdesk@thesundaily.com
KUALA LUMPUR: Local actress K.
Sujatha, who died two years ago,
had drunk paraquat unknowingly,
her boss S. Vell Paari (pix) told the
coroner’s court at an inquest into
her death yesterday.
Vell Paari, who is the son of MIC
president Datuk S. Samy Velu, said
Sujatha’s brother Ugenthiran had
called him and cried over the phone
and when he asked him why he was
crying, Ugenthiran told him that his
sister has taken paraquat.
“I then called Sujatha and asked
her what happened. She said she
‘accidentally’ drank paraquat,” said Vell Paari, adding
that, she uttered “theriyama kudichithen” in Tamil.
(However, DPP Geethan Ram Vincent did not agree
Don’t let your
with the word “accidentally”, saying
the appropriate word was “unknow-
ingly”.
Lawyer Datuk K. Kumaraendran
and the translator agreed to the word
“unknowingly” as the appropriate
translation).
Vell Paari said he told Sujatha he
would take her to hospital. He said
he then called his first cousin Dr S.P.
Sakthiveloo and told him that Sujatha
had taken paraquat and asked him to
suggest which hospital to take her to.
He said upon reaching Sujatha’s
condominium, she opened the door
and gave him the keys for the grille.
“She had green stuff on her mouth.
I told her to wash up,” said Vell Paari.
He said she looked weak and pale.
Vell Paari, who also picked up Sakthiveloo,
reached the emergency ward of the Klang Hospital
(Tengku Ampuan Rahimah) about 7.20pm.
When Geethan questioned Vell Paari whether he
had asked Sujatha, “how did you unknowingly drink
the poison”, he replied in the negative.
To a question whether Vell Paari asked what
transpired for her to drink paraquat, he said at that
moment, it was more important to get her to the
hospital.
Q: Were you shocked (that she drank paraquat)?
A: Yes
Q: Although you were shocked, you did not ask
her?
A: No, I did not.
Q: Did you at least ask her how much she
drank?
A: I did not ask.
Earlier, Vell Paari, who is the CEO of Maika Hold-
ings Bhd, said he knew Sujatha since 1996 when
she was part of the secretarial pool in Maika. He
said he only knew her well since 1999. Sujatha was
his personal assistant from 1999 to 2007 and she
was also a salaried staff at Maika.
Vell Paari said his relationship with Sujatha was
that of an “employer and employee”.
He said he was close to her as a friend.
On June 19, 2007, he said Sujatha called him
(after work) saying that he needed to sign some
documents and later called him again, saying she
had a stomach ache and she wanted to take off
the next day. He told her to go to the clinic for a
check up.
The hearing before Coroner Mohd Faizi Che Abu
continues today.
Businessman Fuad Ariff Abdul
Rashid, 35, and his wife, Fatimah
Maisurah Abdullah, 34, a lawyer,
were alleged to have knowingly
posted the comments on http://
books.dreambook.com. which had
links with the website of the sul-
tan’s office at www.sultan.perak.
gov.my.
They allegedly committed the
offences at No. 1206, Kampung Tok
Kaya, Chabang Tiga, here at 7.57am
and 8.01am on Feb 14. Each of-
fence under section 233(1)(a) of the
Communication and Multimedia
Act 1998 carries a fine of up to
RM50,000 or a jail term of up to a
year, or both, upon conviction.
Judge Mohamad Khalid Abdul
Karim fixed April 20 for mention
and allowed bail of RM6,000 with
one surety each.
The couple’s counsel Wan Za-
inuddin Wan Musa told reporters
he will make a representation to
the Attorney-General’s Chambers
to reconsider the charges against
his clients and to drop the charges
against Fatimah. – Bernama

assets be unclaimed
Ex-Unisel don charged with using forged letter
KLANG: Former Universiti Industri
Selangor (Unisel) professor Dr Rus-
tam Abbas pleaded not guilty in the
sessions court here yesterday to
using a forged letter to extend his
contract as the university’s deputy
vice chancellor.
Rustam, 51, now a Universiti
Teknologi Mara (UiTM) lecturer in
Shah Alam, was arrested on Friday
and produced in court at 9.30am.
The charge read that he had
dishonestly used as genuine, a
document, namely a letter dated
Dec 28, 2006 with a heading “Pen-
yambungan Kontrak Perkhidma-
tan/Pinjaman Sebagai Timbalan
Naib Canselor, Universiti Industri
Selangor” which he had reason to
believe to be a forged document.
The offence was allegedly com-
mitted at Unisel’s human resources
division office, Bestari Jaya Campus,
Kuala Selangor, on July 12, 2007.
Rustam nodded that he under-
stood the charge read by the court
interpreter and claimed trial.
The charge, under Section 471 of
the Penal Code, is punishable with
imprisonment of up to two years or
fine, or both upon conviction.
Deputy Public Prosecutor Nazrul Thas (right) speaking to
Nizam Mohd Zameri from the Malay- Rustam and his wife
sian Anti-Corruption Commis-
sion (MACC) recommended
that Rustam be released on
RM7,500 bail but Rustam’s
lawyer M. K. Thas argued that
it was too high since his client
was only a lecturer, earning
RM5,000 a month.
Although Rustam’s wife
was a teacher, they had to
support five children, four of
whom were in higher learning
institutions, said Thas who
urged that the bail to be reduced
to RM4,000.
He also said Rustam would
not run away and he had cooper-
ated with the MACC throughout
the investigation.
Judge Slamat Yahya, however,
said the RM7,500 bail recom-
mended by the prosecution was
reasonable and fixed April 30 for
re-mention.
Rustam, who was accompa-
nied by his wife and another family
member, posted bail. – Bernama