THE Shah Alam High Court has set November 15 to deliver its verdict on the appeal of PKR vice-president Mohd Rafizi Ramli and former bank clerk Johari Mohamad to set aside their convictions and sentences for violating the Banking and Financial Institutions Act (BAFIA).

Judge Datuk Yazid Mustafa ordered all parties to make their submissions within 10 days.

Earlier in the proceedings Rafizi’s lawyer, Ahmad Nizam Hamid submitted that the testimony of prosecution witnesses National Feedlot Corporation (NFC) chairman Dr Mohamad Salleh Ismail and two journalists were inadmissible because they were not backed up by the  original documents.

He said they had referred instead to photocopies.

“We are of the view that the prosecution has failed to furnish the complete evidence,” Nizam said, adding the prosecution had had ample time to obtain the original documents.

Deputy public prosecutor Tengku Amir Zaki Tengku Abdul Rahman said the law did not require the prosecution to obtain the original documents.

PKR leaders who were present in court today were president Anwar Ibrahim, secretary-general Saifuddin Nasution Ismail and Permatang Pauh MP Nurul Izzah Anwar.

On February 7, 2018, the Shah Alam Sessions Court found Rafizi, 42, guilty of showing confidential documents comprising bank statements of NFC, National Meat & Livestock Sdn Bhd, Agroscience Industries Sdn Bhd, and Mohamad Salleh, to media consultant Yusof Abdul Alim and The Star reporter Erle Martin Carvalho.

The offence was committed at PKR headquarters in Merchant Square, Petaling Jaya, on March 7, 2012.

Rafizi was sentenced to 30 months in jail.

Johari, 48, was charged under Section 112 (1) (c) of Bafia for conspiring with Rafizi to commit the offence on the same date and at the same address. He received the same sentence. – Bernama, October 24, 2019.