Ex-IGP and CID director Bakri to face contempt of court proceedings on Oct 28
(The Star) – Former IGP Tan Sri Musa Hassan and Bukit Aman CID director Datuk Seri Mohd Bakri Mohd Zinin have been ordered to be in the High Court on Oct 28 to know if they will be cited for contempt of court.
High Court judge Justice Mohd Sofian Abd Razak said both respondents have to be present at 8.30am to know the outcome of his ruling over an application by two businessmen to cite the duo for contempt.
B. Sasinthiran, 28, from Kuala Selangor, and R. Muniyandi, 26, from Kluang, succeeded in their bid on Sept 29 to initiate contempt proceedings against both respondents for not complying with release orders issued by a High Court in their wrongful arrest and detention case.
Sasinthiran and Muniyandi had been detained by the authorities for suspected involvement in gangsterism and sent to the Simpang Renggam detention centre in Johor under the Emergency (Prevention of Crime) Ordinance 1967.
Both filed habeas corpus applications at the High Court here.
The release order was granted to Sasinthiran on July 29 while Muniyandi obtained his on June 10.
When the court orders were served at the detention centre, the duo were released but were immediately re-arrested by police officers outside the centre.
On Thursday, Justice Mohd Sofian said the integrity of the court had to be preserved.
“Nobody is above the law. A common man has to come to court on the decision day. I do not want to give a wrong message to the public. Irrespective of the finding of the court, they have to be here,” he said.
The judge said this after hearing submissions by parties in the contempt proceedings.
Their lead counsel Datuk N. Sivananthan argued Thursday that both respondents had to be cited for contempt of court for their failure to file affidavit-in-reply to answer to the allegations by his clients in relation to their re-arrests.
“They cannot ask the court to make assumptions as this is based on affidavit evidence. It is the rule,” he said.
He said the court had a role in rectifying the unfairness that had occurred in each case.
“I am concerned. If your lordship sanctions this re-arrest then your lordship actually sanctions the death of the habeas corpus (application for a release order in a wrongful arrest and detention case) process,” he said.
Sivananthan applied to the court to issue a ruling that would serve as a guide in relation to the re-arrests.
“If a person was re-arrest after being issued a release order, there is no point of being sent to a rehabilitation centre. Nobody will believe that they are actually being rehabilitated,” he added.
Sivananthan filed a notice of motion in August asking for leave to cite Musa and Mohd Bakri for contempt of court for failing to comply with the release orders.
Senior Federal Counsel Najib Zakaria, however, argued that the re-arrest did not amount to contempt or mala fide (in bad faith).
Besides that, SFC Najib said there was no evidence that Musa had personally ordered the re-arrest of the applicants.
