KOTA KINABALU – Troubled Sabah politician, Datuk Peter Anthony, has expressed hope that the courts will grant his appeal, as crucial evidence has now surfaced, which he believes could turn around his forgery conviction in 2022.
The basis for this lies in a police report made by the case’s star witness, Mohd Shukor Mohd Din, in 2018.
Anthony said that Shukor had alleged in the report that Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC) officers had “exaggerated” his affidavit during investigation, and this was later used to bring about the forgery charges against Anthony in 2020.
“The police report (by Shukor) had gone viral just about two days ago.
“I was not aware of it at first, but I have checked its authenticity, and indeed the report was done (by him) in July 2018.
“In the report, Shukor disputed several facts in his affidavit to MACC, including the MACC officers overstating the facts of the case to portray that I was indeed in the wrong.
“I believe this (my conviction) is a political conspiracy aimed at persecuting me.
“I had many times claimed innocence as I had never forged any documents,” said Anthony at a press conference here today.
The Kemabong assemblyman added that he has lodged a police report over Shukor’s report in an attempt to have the authorities further authenticate its credibility.
Anthony said the newfound evidence could have greatly affected the trial’s outcome if it had surfaced when the trial was still ongoing.
“Although, I am not a judge, if we had known about the 2018 police report and had included them in our defence, surely the credibility of the report would be challenged.
“It was clear (in the report) the witness claimed he was pressured by the MACC during the investigation and the commission had also overstated his statements,” he said.
Anthony was found guilty in May 2022 and was sentenced for three years in prison and fined RM50,000 by the sessions court in Kuala Lumpur for forging a letter in regard to a maintenance and service contract with UMS while being the managing director of Asli Jati Sdn Bhd.
According to Anthony, Shukor was the case’s star witness in his graft trial as he was a middleman for Asli Jati and Universiti Malaysia Sabah (UMS) to establish an internship programme for graduating students.
Anthony said Shukor was not an UMS staff but had close relations to a former university’s senior official at the time.
Anthony was charged with falsifying a letter from the office of UMS deputy vice-chancellor dated June 9, 2014, which included false statements with the intention to deceive.
The offence was allegedly committed in the office of the principal private secretary to the prime minister at Perdana Putra building, Putrajaya between June 13 and August 21, 2014, and was framed under Section 468 of the Penal Code which provides for a maximum prison sentence of seven years and a fine.
His bid to set aside the conviction at the high court was dismissed on April 18 this year.
Anthony is now in the process of appealing, and the Court of Appeal has fixed July 28 for case management.
“I hope the Attorney-General’s Chambers and the appeal court would grant me a retrial on all the charges against me and subsequently drop all of them based on the new evidence,” said Anthony, adding that he will file the new evidence to his lawyers in Kuala Lumpur as part of the appeal process. – The Vibes, July 3, 2023
