Wednesday August 15, 2007Heng Pov loses contempt application
By RAPHAEL WONG
The Star (Malaysia)
PUTRAJAYA: The Federal Court has dismissed Cambodia's ex-police chief Heng Pov's application to cite three senior Malaysian government officers for contempt for deporting him before he exhausted all his avenues of appeal here.
Chief Judge of Sabah and Sarawak Justice Richard Malanjum and Federal Court judges Justices Hashim Mohd Yusoff and Azmel Ma’amor unanimously dismissed his application to cite Immigration Department enforcement director Datuk Ishak Mohamed and the Attorney-General’s Chambers’ deputy head of prosecution Mohd Hanafiah Zakaria for contempt.
The three-man bench also struck out his application to cite Immigration Department director-general Datuk Wahid Mohd Don after the deported ex-police chief’s counsel N. Sivananthan agreed to remove him as a party to the application.
Justice Malanjum said there was undisputed fact that the two officials had not breached any order from the Court of Appeal or the Federal Court.
He said since this application was a quasi criminal matter, the standard of proof required was beyond a reasonable doubt, which was a heavy burden on Heng Pov.
On the application to cite Ishak, Justice Malanjum said the enforcement director was acting according to the law even if he had sped up the process and that did not amount to contempt.
As for Mohd Hanafiah, Justice Malanjum said Heng Pov’s complaint was whether it was reasonable to believe that the deputy head of prosecution had not spoken to Immigration officers after the Court of Appeal's decision.
“We have considered the grievances complained by Heng Pov and we are not satisfied beyond a reasonable doubt those circumstances amounted to contempt,” he said.
Heng Pov, 53, who filed the action in January, had also accused the officers of orchestrating his premature deportation to Cambodia to serve an 18-year jail sentence for conspiring in the murder of a municipal court judge there.
Heng Pov wanted the three senior officials to be cited for contempt for deliberately suppressing the facts before the Court of Appeal.
He was sent home on Dec 21 last year, and an urgent convening of the Federal Court here was too late to stop his deportation.
Chief Judge of Sabah and Sarawak Justice Richard Malanjum and Federal Court judges Justices Hashim Mohd Yusoff and Azmel Ma’amor unanimously dismissed his application to cite Immigration Department enforcement director Datuk Ishak Mohamed and the Attorney-General’s Chambers’ deputy head of prosecution Mohd Hanafiah Zakaria for contempt.
The three-man bench also struck out his application to cite Immigration Department director-general Datuk Wahid Mohd Don after the deported ex-police chief’s counsel N. Sivananthan agreed to remove him as a party to the application.
Justice Malanjum said there was undisputed fact that the two officials had not breached any order from the Court of Appeal or the Federal Court.
He said since this application was a quasi criminal matter, the standard of proof required was beyond a reasonable doubt, which was a heavy burden on Heng Pov.
On the application to cite Ishak, Justice Malanjum said the enforcement director was acting according to the law even if he had sped up the process and that did not amount to contempt.
As for Mohd Hanafiah, Justice Malanjum said Heng Pov’s complaint was whether it was reasonable to believe that the deputy head of prosecution had not spoken to Immigration officers after the Court of Appeal's decision.
“We have considered the grievances complained by Heng Pov and we are not satisfied beyond a reasonable doubt those circumstances amounted to contempt,” he said.
Heng Pov, 53, who filed the action in January, had also accused the officers of orchestrating his premature deportation to Cambodia to serve an 18-year jail sentence for conspiring in the murder of a municipal court judge there.
Heng Pov wanted the three senior officials to be cited for contempt for deliberately suppressing the facts before the Court of Appeal.
He was sent home on Dec 21 last year, and an urgent convening of the Federal Court here was too late to stop his deportation.
No comments:
Post a Comment