Court sets aside Rafizi's jail term

Chan Kok Leong Chan Kok Leong Updated 8 years ago · Published on 1 Jun 2018 10:40AM · 6 Comments

Former Pandan MP Rafizi Ramli was sentenced to jail for revealing the contents of the 1Malaysia Development Bhd audit report in 2016. His lawyer today described the jail term, which has been replaced, as 'excessive'. – The Malaysian Insight pic by Nazir Sufari, June 1, 2018.

THE Court of Appeal has set aside former Pandan MP Rafizi Ramli’s jail term of 18 months for revealing the contents of the Auditor-General’s Report on 1Malaysia Development Bhd.

After hearing appeal submissions from both sides, the judge said the custodial sentence will be replaced with a two-year good behaviour bond.

On December 6 last year, high court judge Azman Abdullah had set aside Rafizi’s conviction for possessing a part of the 1MDB audit report, but upheld his second conviction for disclosing contents of the report to the public in a media conference in March 2016.

Rafizi was sentenced to 18 months’ jail for revealing the report, which was under the Official Secrets Act (OSA).

Court of Appeal judge Ahmadi Asnawi said the 18-month jail term will be replaced with a two-year good behaviour bond of RM10,000 with one surety.

During the appeal, Rafizi’s lawyer, Ahmad Nizam Hamid, said the jail term was “excessive”.

“My client did not reveal the report for his personal good. His expose was for the good of the nation. A similar case taken by LTAT (Lembaga Tabung Angkatan Tentera) against Rafizi has also been withdrawn.

“The expose, although the report was under the OSA, did not jeopardise the security of the nation, and as such, we hope that there is no custodial sentence.”

LTAT had withdrawn its case against Rafizi on May 19.

The PKR vice-president had alleged that the army pension fund had no money to pay gratuity to ex-servicemen, and that LTAT funds had been diverted to 1MDB.

He had said the issue was almost academic now, as the 1MDB report has been declassified.

Public prosecutor Awang Armadajaya Awang Mahmud said the A-G’s Office did not object to the appeal.

“With the current situation, and as the report is already declassified, there is no need for a custodial sentence.” – June 1, 2018.

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Comments

  • Rafizi should serve this jail sentence for him to reflect that there's many ways to whistleblow, many ways to speak up & criticise, definitely not attack Tun M and fellow component parties in the open. He should learn his lesson and grow up to be a team player

    Posted 8 years ago by Kuasa Rakyat · Reply

    • Doubt it will make a difference being the person that he is. He will always be the "purveyor of truth" and will sensationalize anything.

      I'd rather see what he do in contributing to the administration of the government.

      Posted 8 years ago by Gerald Lau · Reply

    • For the past few weeks, Rafizi is doing anything but 'contributing to the administration of the government'. While everyone in PH is busy trying to implement 100 days manifesto, he indulged in divisive comments, undermine new cabinet, and was seeking self-glory that no one is giving. At this rate, he's a liability and fast becoming hated by voters.

      Posted 8 years ago by Kuasa Rakyat · Reply

    • Isn't that idea equivalent to punishing for speaking up?
      Isn't that what we have been fighting against, that is to having people punished for speaking up?

      Posted 8 years ago by Samuel John · Reply

    • Nobody's stopping anyone to speak up, but can you do it tactfully behind close door at the right time? There's stark distinction between being 'punished for speaking up' and being exposed as juvenile who belittle other's contribution in GE14 win, to glorify INVOKE survey, that wrongly predicted PAS will get 0 seat. Train your loose mouth at the enemies; UMNO, PAS, etc -- why must at Tun M and PH allies who are busy working to deliver?

      Posted 8 years ago by Kuasa Rakyat · Reply

  • A right decision. After all the report is already declassified. The whole trial has become academic.

    Posted 8 years ago by Ken destino · Reply