COURT administrators must show CCTV recordings of bail counters in the Kuala Lumpur Court Complex to prove they did not close early the day before the long Hari Raya weekend, Kepong MP Lim Lip Eng said.

Six people were forced to spend the weekend in jail after the counters were allegedly shut early on Thursday.

“These are serious claims and the bail counters should not be closed (when) they like,” said Lim in a statement today.

“In this matter, it is better if the CCTV footage from the bail counters can be revealed so that we can ascertain if they were closed early or had remained open.”

Lawyer Alvin Tan, who represented the six men, had alleged that the bail registration counter was closed at 2.53pm when it was supposed to be open until 4.30pm on Thursday.

The Federal Court’s Office of the Chief Registrar had denied the claim of early counter closure, saying the six men could not post bail because their bailors had failed to show up.

“This office would like to clarify that the news report alleging that the bail counters were closed early is untrue.

“In the aforementioned case, only four bailors were present for four of the accused while the bailors for the remaining six accused were not in court to proceed with the bail procedure,” it said in a statement yesterday.

It said a bailor must be present for bail to be allowed.

“In this case the bailors for six of the accused did not present themselves until the counter closed at 4pm, therefore their bail process could not be completed,” the office said. – April 23, 2023.