PUTRAJAYA – The Federal Court here today dismissed former Asian International Arbitration Centre (AIAC) director Datuk N. Sundra Rajoo’s application for leave to commence committal proceedings against former attorney-general Tan Sri Tommy Thomas over an allegedly contemptuous statement.
This is in relation to Thomas’ alleged statement in an affidavit that he filed to strike out a civil suit brought by Sundra against him and 12 others in the Kuala Lumpur High Court.
In the affidavit, Thomas had allegedly said giving Sundra immunity from criminal prosecution would put him on a level above 30 million Malaysians and would even be a class above the nine Malay rulers of Malaysia.
Today, a three-member panel led by Chief Judge of Sabah and Sarawak Tan Sri Amar Abang Iskandar Abang Hashim said Sundra’s ex-parte application did not fulfil the threshold of prima facie case for leave to be granted.
He said Sundra had not made out a case that the impugned statement posed a real risk of undermining public confidence in the administration of justice.
Presiding with Abang Iskandar were Federal Court judges Datuk Zabariah Mohd Yusof and Datuk Harmindar Singh Dhaliwal.
Sundra filed the ex-parte application on September 9 this year, seeking leave to commence contempt proceedings against Thomas.
In July this year, high court judge Datuk Ahmad Bache dismissed Thomas’ application to strike out the suit filed by Sundra against him, former Malaysian Anti Corruption (MACC) chief commissioner Datuk Seri Mohd Shukri Abdull, several deputy public prosecutors, and MACC officers for alleged misfeasance in public office, malicious prosecution, and false imprisonment.
Thomas’ appeal is pending in the Court of Appeal.
Sundra was charged on March 16, 2019 with three counts of criminal breach of trust amounting to RM1.1 million, allegedly committed at the AIAC premises on Jalan Sultan Hishamuddin in Kuala Lumpur between August 17 and December 8, 2018.
Thomas was the attorney-general between June 2018 and February 2020.
Sundra subsequently filed a judicial review in the high court seeking a declaration that he was immune from prosecution for acts done within his official capacity.
He won his case in the high court but the Court of Appeal overturned the high court’s decision. He then brought the matter to the Federal Court, which ruled in his favour.
The charges against Sundra were subsequently dropped after the Federal Court held that Sundra, as the AIAC director, was entitled to immunity from prosecution for acts committed while in office.
In today’s online proceedings, lawyers Datuk Malik Imtiaz Sarwar and A. Surendra Ananth represented Sundra. – Bernama, December 1, 2022
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