PUTRAJAYA – Businessman Goh Leong Yeong, also known as Alvin Goh, remanded under the Prevention of Crime Act 1959 (Poca) for purported involvement in illegal online gambling, has lost his appeal at the Federal Court for an issuance of a writ of habeas corpus to secure his release.
In a 2-1 decision, a three-member bench led by Justice Datuk Vernon Ong Lam Kiat dismissed Goh’s appeal against the high court’s dismissal of his writ of habeas corpus.
The majority decision came from Justices Datuk Zabariah Mohd Yusof and Datuk Abdul Rahman Sebli, while Ong dissented.
Zabariah held that Goh’s detention under Section 4(1)(a) of Poca was academic as his remand order has ended and he is no longer detained under that section.
“The issuance of the writ of habeas corpus would not serve any purpose for the detention under Section 4(1)(a) as it had already ended when it was brought before the high court. Such a challenge has been rendered academic,” she said, adding that the habeas corpus application must be directed at the current detention order.
She said the 21-day remand order issued by the magistrates’ court on October 31 last year for Goh to be held under Section 4(1)(a) was valid and lawful, as the procedural requirement stipulated under that section was met.
Goh’s appeal was in respect of his initial remand order for 21 days from October 31 under Section 4(1)(a) of Poca to assist in investigations into an online gambling syndicate.
He was later detained for 38 days under Section 4(2)(a) of the same act.
According to lawyer Jacky Loi Yap Loong, the 33-year-old Goh is currently under a two-year Poca detention at Simpang Renggam Prison.
On November 16 last year, the high court dismissed Goh’s application for a writ of habeas corpus after accepting a preliminary objection raised by senior federal counsel Muhammad Sinti, who appeared for the respondents, that the accused’s application had become academic as he was being remanded under a different section of Poca.
Goh filed the habeas corpus application, naming investigating officer Khairul Fairoz Rodzuan, a magistrate at the Kuala Lumpur magistrates’ court, the inspector-general of police, and the government as respondents.
In her decision, Zabariah said in a situation where a person is no longer detained under a particular section, a writ of habeas corpus against such a detention ought not be issued.
“This is for the simple reason and logic that a person who has already been released cannot be ordered to be released.”
She also said Section 4 of Poca is constitutional and not in breach of Article 121 of the federal constitution.
Ong, in his dissenting judgment, allowed Goh’s appeal and issued a writ of habeas corpus for his release.
In today’s proceedings, conducted online, a team of eight lawyers led by Datuk Seri Gopal Sri Ram appeared for Goh, while senior federal counsel Muhammad and Farah Ezlin Yusop appeared for the respondents.
Goh made headlines after he escaped from the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission building last October. – Bernama, July 30, 2021
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