Category: Legal

PUTRAJAYA, May 11 (Bernama) — The Court of Appeal has fixed June 28 for another case management on clerk Sam Ke Ting’s appeal against her conviction and jail sentence for reckless driving which caused the death of eight teenagers on modified bicycles commonly known as basikal lajak.

The date was fixed after a case management was held before Court of Appeal deputy registrar Mohd Khairi Haron today.

Lawyers Harvinderjit Singh and Faizal Mokhtar who represented Sam attended the case management proceedings while deputy public prosecutor Ng Siew Wee appeared for the prosecution.

When contacted, Harvinderjit Singh said the deputy registrar set June 28 for further case management to get the appeal records and for the appeal records to be served to the parties in the case.

He said he also informed the deputy registrar that former Federal Court judge Datuk Seri Gopal Sri Ram has been appointed as lead counsel and he (Harvinderjit) as co-counsel to represent Sam in her appeal.

Harvinderjit Singh said the prosecution has also confirmed that they have received the notice of appeal filed by Sam.

He said the defence informed the deputy registrar that they wanted the appeal records, notes of proceedings and submissions of an earlier appeal in 2019 by the prosecution to be included for the hearing in the Court of Appeal.

He said this was because the issue of the prima facie case would also be determined by the Court of Appeal.

“The court has directed for a letter to be written to the Johor Bahru High Court to request the same accordingly,” he said.

The Johor Bahru Magistrate’s Court had on Oct 28, 2019 freed Sam without ordering her to enter her defence over the charge of driving recklessly and causing the death of eight teenagers at Jalan Lingkaran Dalam, Johor Bahru, Johor at 3.20 am on Feb 18, 2017.

The eight teenagers killed in the incident were Mohamad Azrie Danish Zulkefli, 14; Muhamad Shahrul Izzwan Azzuraimie, 14; Muhammad Firdauz Danish Mohd Azhar, 16; Fauzan Halmijan, 13; Mohamad Azhar Amir, 16; Muhammad Harith Iskandar Abdullah, 14; Muhammad Shahrul Nizam Marudin, 14 and Haizad Kasrin, 16.

In 2019, High Court judge Shahnaz Sulaiman allowed the prosecution’s appeal and ordered Sam to enter her defence on the reckless driving charge.

Magistrate Siti Hajar Ali, who heard the case in 2019 again discharged and acquitted Sam at the end of the defence case prompting the prosecution to file the second appeal to the High Court.

On April 13, this year, High Court judge Datuk Abu Bakar Katar allowed the prosecution’s appeal and convicted Sam of driving recklessly and sentenced her to six years in jail and RM6,000 fine.

Sam obtained leave from the Court of Appeal last April 18 to appeal against her conviction and jail sentence.

The Court of Appeal had also allowed Sam’s application to stay the execution of the jail sentence and released her on bail of RM10,000 with one surety pending the hearing of her appeal.

Source: BERNAMA News Agency

PUTRAJAYA, May 9 (Bernama) — Malaysia has strongly condemned the terrorist attack on a water lifting facility in Sinai, Egypt on Saturday which resulted in at least 11 fatalities.

“Malaysia hopes that those responsible for this heinous act will be brought to justice,” the Foreign Ministry (Wisma Putra) said in a statement Monday.

Malaysia extended its deepest condolences and sympathies to the government and people of Egypt, in particular to the bereaved families of the fallen soldiers, the statement read.

Wisma Putra said Malaysia strongly rejected all forms of terrorism that undermine regional peace and security.

According to media reports, at least 11 members of the Egyptian military, including an officer, were killed on Saturday in Sinai Peninsula when militants attacked a checkpoint at a water pumping station.

It was one of the deadliest attacks in recent years in northern Sinai.

Source: BERNAMA News Agency

SHAH ALAM, April 25 (Bernama) — A declaration to convey the wishes and dreams of journalists on the country’s future will be announced during National Journalist Day (HAWANA) 2022, to be held in Melaka on May 29.

Malaysian-Indonesian Journalists’ Association (ISWAMI) president, Datuk Mokhtar Hussain, said for that purpose, a sub-committee would be set up to draft the declaration.

“Matters contained in the declaration are about the views and aspirations of journalists for a more prosperous and united Malaysia,” he told the media here today.

“What is important is that we want to show that journalists in Malaysia have solidarity. We are inclusive not only of the mainstream media but also multi-lingual news portals, including from Sabah and Sarawak,” he said.

Earlier, Mokhtar chaired the HAWANA 2022 Coordination Meeting, which was attended by media representatives nationwide.

ISWAMI and the Malaysian National News Agency (Bernama) will be the co-organisers of HAWANA 2022, which also involves other organisations, associations and media practitioners.

Tokoh Wartawan Negara (National Journalism Laureate), Tan Sri Johan Jaaffar, who attended the meeting, said the ‘Melaka Declaration’ was important as a marker of excellence in the world of journalism in Malaysia, thus ensuring that HAWANA 2022 had an impact on journalists and the country’s media industry.

He said that the organisation of HAWANA 2022 will also have meaningful content as well as the latest developments in the media industry for journalists to increase their knowledge and expand networking, including at the international level.

Meanwhile, Mokhtar said that HAWANA 2022 would begin with the Media Convention on May 28 to discuss the direction and future of the media, especially when faced with technological changes and an increasingly challenging environment.

“We will hold a gala dinner in the evening, and will invite the Yang Dipertua Negeri of Melaka, Tun Mohd Ali Mohd Rustam,” he said.

Mokhtar said that HAWANA 2022 will be officiated at 2 pm on May 29 at a hotel in Melaka, and Prime Minister Datuk Seri Ismail Sabri Yaakob, has already confirmed his attendance to officiate the event.

In addition, he said that 17 major media leaders from Indonesia are also invited to attend HAWANA 2022.

Source: BERNAMA News Agency

SEREMBAN, April 25 (Bernama) — The Negeri Sembilan government will take legal action after 2,000 pigs from 19 unlicensed farms in Kampung Baru Tanah Merah Site A, Port Dickson, were believed to have been taken out of the area without the knowledge of the relevant authorities.

Negeri Sembilan Menteri Besar Datuk Seri Aminuddin Harun said he had asked the relevant executive councilor and the state Veterinary Services Department to investigate the matter and to lodge a police report about the incident.

He said the state government was concerned that the animals might cause a possible spread of the African Swine Flu (ASF) in other states.

“That is why we leave it to the police to investigate how the animals were moved. The pigs were not supposed to be moved till the veterinary services department had completed inspecting and confirming that they were all free of ASF infection,” he told reporters after presenting donations to the poor in Seremban district in conjunction with Hari Raya here today.

He also said that the veterinary services department should have been more aware as they were tasked to ensure no animals were transferred from the affected farms.

Media outlets reported yesterday that the pigs had been secretly moved without the knowledge of the authorities.

The animals were said to be infected with ASF. A total of 273 infected pigs were disposed on April 13.

Meanwhile, Aminuddin said that 4,629 poor and needy individuals in the state will receive Hari Raya donations from the Negeri Sembilan Religious Islamic Council and Menteri Besar Incorporated this year.

Source: BERNAMA News Agency

KUALA LUMPUR, April 25 (Bernama) — A swimming coach, suspected to be the mastermind of a syndicate smuggling and distributing syabu, was detained with three other individuals in a police operation in Selangor and Johor on April 22 and 23.

The four men aged between 25 to 29, were locals and were believed to be planning to smuggle the confiscated drug worth RM10.3 million to local and international markets.

Bukit Aman Narcotics CID (NCID) director, Datuk Ayob Khan Mydin Pitchay said they were all detained in four raids with two being detained at their respective homes in Puchong here while the rest in Johor Bahru.

He said a preliminary investigation found the syabu seized weighing 287 kilogrammes were smuggled in the northern part of the peninsula via ship.

“They will then transit in the Klang Valley before it is marketed to neighbouring countries via the southern border by the syndicate which was believed to be active since early this year.

“The syabu, seized through the collaboration of Bukit Aman NCID, Selangor contingent and Johor NCID, is believed to be adequate for 1.4 million drug addicts,” he told a media conference at Bukit Aman here today.

Asked if the swimming coach involved was a national or international swimming coach, he said the police were still investigating the matter.

Ayob Khan said the police also seized various types of assets involving vehicles and cash used by the syndicate valued at RM173,000.

He said urine tests on all the suspects were negative and three had drug and crime records.

The four were remanded seven days to help in the investigation and the case was being investigated under Section 39B of the Dangerous Drugs Act 1952, he added.

Source: BERNAMA News Agency

ALOR SETAR, April 23 (Bernama) — The police are still tracking down the remaining 80 Rohingya detainees who escaped from the Sungai Bakap Immigration Detention Depot near Bandar Baharu, last Wednesday.

Kedah police chief CP Wan Hassan Wan Ahmad said as of last night, 65 adult men, eight adult women and seven girls were still at large.

“So far, a total of 448 Rohingya detainees have been found, comprising 229 adult men, 89 adult women, 69 boys and 61 girls,” he said in a statement here today.

Wan Hassan said currently, there were 15 people at the depot and documentation work was being conducted to transfer them to other detention depots.

Last Wednesday, 528 Rohingya detainees escaped from the depot. However, six of them were killed when they were hit by a car while crossing a highway in their attempt to flee.

Source: BERNAMA News Agency

More local agro-based industry products are expected to penetrate the international market through strategic public-private sector collaborations via the empowerment of single branding under the Malaysian Export Management Company–EMC (MyEMC) initiative.

Agriculture and Food Industry Minister Datuk Seri Dr Ronald Kiandee said that under the initiative, the effort to explore the international market was consolidated through strengthening the role of the Malaysian company as EMC Malaysia abroad.

“This initiative is a strategic public-private sector collaboration with the involvement of related industry players comprising production entrepreneurs, exporters, foreign importers and marketers abroad.

“It is aimed at overcoming the problems of market entry, marketing and also promotion of agro-food products in an importing country,” he said after the flagging off session for exports of agro-food products to Japan here today.

The flag off session, implemented by EMC in Japan, namely, SD Impex Japan Co Ltd was also attended by Federal Agricultural Marketing Authority (FAMA) director-general Datuk Zainal Abidin Yang Razalli and Agriculture and Food Industry Ministry (MAFI) Business Development and Investment Division (BDI) Secretary Khalid Ibrahim.

For the time being, he said MAFI was focusing on strengthening three EMCs in Japan, the United Arab Emirates (UAE) and southern Thailand.

“Towards this end, MAFI also invites any producing company and local entrepreneurs wanting to develop partnerships with the ministry under the single branding initiative, MyKitchen for the penetration of global market in other countries,” he said.

He said that the strategic co-operation with SD Impex Japan Co., Ltd had succeeded in boosting export to 992 cartons involving 36 Stock Keeping Units (SKU) comprising of over 50,000 units of Ready to Eat (RTE), Ready to Drink (RTD) and Ready to Cook (RTC) products.

These were the products of 13 producing companies and entrepreneurs nationwide and placed under the single branding initiative MyKitchen, he said.

He said the success indirectly could contribute to an increase in the value of agro-food trade between Malaysia and Japan this year, compared to USD$1.21 billion (RM5.18 billion) recorded last year, which will contribute to the recovery trend and foreign market access to Malaysian branded products,” he said.

He said as of April, 70 SKU of selected agro-food products had been promoted and marketed in Japan compared to only 12 SKU when the initiative was introduced in 2020.

Ronald had earlier witnessed the signing of a memorandum of understanding (MoU) between SD Impex Japan Co Ltd with agro-food entrepreneurs for the promotion and marketing of the products to Japan and simultaneously strengthening the brand MyKitchen and MyKitchen Fresh in Japan.

Source: BERNAMA News Agency