THE five-day remand order granted to the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC) to further detain Penang government exco Phee Boon Poh is “highly irregular”, his lawyers said.

Counsel Ramkarpal Singh said the registrar had decided on the remand order without hearing Phee’s lawyers.

“Our submission this morning was only centred on the issue of representation. We did not touch on the remand. She has decided on the remand without hearing us.

“This is what we take issue with. We are in the view that this order is irregular, and it needs to be revised by a high court judge,” he told reporters.

Phee is detained for investigation for allegedly using his position to obtain gratification. The probe is in relation to letters he wrote as the state environmental exco concerning an illegal factory in Sungai Lembu in Bukit Mertajam.

He was arrested at the Penang MACC office yesterday afternoon while giving his statement.

Ramkarpal said he and fellow counsel RSN Rayer had asked the registrar Ameera Mastura Khamis to decide first on the legal representation issue.

He said the registrar then adjourned for about 20 minutes to decide on the matter, but when he and Rayer were called back into the remand office, they were told that Phee would be detained for a further five days.

“We were shocked when we were told that she had decided on the entire remand application and that she has given MACC five days to remand Phee.

“As we found the order irregular, we asked that she assist us in filing the necessary application for the review… there is a provision for challenging the order in high court as stated in the Crime Procedure Code.

“But she refused and maintained the remand order despite our objections. She would not assist us in expediting the matter, especially as it was a weekend,” he said.

Ramkarpal said they would file the application at the high court today, if possible, in the view that “it is not a legal order”.

Rayer conceded that they had not been given a chance to argue on the merits of whether Phee could be detained or not.

“The registrar had made her decision without listening to us. The order is illegal,” he said.

The manager of the illegal factory, Gan Buck Hee, 70, and his director son Edmund Gan, 37, have also been remanded for five days.

Their lawyers Dev Kumaraendran, V. Pathipan, Khor Chai Koan and Teh See Khoon are of the same view as Ramkarpal and Rayer.

Dev called it an “illegal detention”, adding that if the registrar had come to the decision after hearing the lawyers out, they would not be challenging the order.

“She didn’t even allow us to speak about our clients’ health,” he said.

Dev also said requests for the registrar’s help to expedite their cases and to locate the sitting judge for the weekend were repeatedly turned down.

“She agrees with the MACC officer that they (his clients) are actually under illegal detention,” he said.

Dev said that if they were to file their applications for review on Monday morning, it would mean his clients are illegally detained from now until then.

“If anything happens to them while in detention, they can sue the courts for compensation.

“If we cannot serve the letter to a judge in court, we must track down the managing judge of Penang. Go to her house to serve the letter, and ask her to hear the case tomorrow morning.

“That is probably what we will do,” he said. – August 12, 2017.