PUTRAJAYA: Court of Appeal judge Datuk Abdul Malik Ishak, who is
alleged to have plagiarised a judgment, disqualified himself from
hearing an appeal in a drug case.
Lawyer Karpal Singh, who filed a motion against Malik for judicial
misconduct in the Dewan Rakyat last week, made the application
yesterday at the outset of the appeal.
"With regret, your
Lordship, I ask for your recusal from hearing this case following a
motion that I filed under Article 127 of the Federal Constitution to set
up a tribunal for allegedly plagiarising a judgment written by a
Singapore judge," he said.
Malik said the three-man quorum was constituted by the Court of
Appeal president Tan Sri Raus Sharif and he was to chair the panel.
"I took my oath as a judge to uphold justice," Malik said.
Deputy public prosecutor Kwan Lisa said the prosecution had faith in
the panel. However, Karpal, who is also Bukit Gelugor member of
parliament, reminded that the question of perception must be considered
if Malik continued to hear the case. The judge then decided to
disqualify himself and said the case would be heard on Nov 14 before
another panel.
Karpal was appearing for labourer M. Kula Segaran, 34, who was
found guilty and sentenced to 12 years' jail and 10 strokes of the rotan
for trafficking in 12.6kg of ganja..
He is appealing against the conviction while the prosecution has filed a cross-appeal to reinstate the trafficking charge.
No comments:
Post a Comment