Is Riza Aziz a victim of double jeopardy?
It will be interesting to see how Riza Aziz’s lawyers fight his case. The US DoJ has already punished Riza as the owner of Red Granite Pictures. Now the Malaysian government is, again, punishing him. Can someone be punished twice (or ten times) in Malaysia for the same crime? I am not clear about the double jeopardy law in Malaysia or whether Malaysia even has one.
NO HOLDS BARRED
Raja Petra Kamarudin
READ HERE: MACC Arrests Riza Aziz
Double jeopardy is a procedural defence that prevents an accused person from being tried again on the same (or similar) charges and on the same facts, following a valid acquittal or conviction. As described by the U.S. Supreme Court in its unanimous decision concerning Ball v. United States 163 U.S. 662 (1896), one of its earliest cases dealing with double jeopardy, “the prohibition is not against being twice punished, but against being twice put in jeopardy; and the accused, whether convicted or acquitted, is equally put in jeopardy at the first trial.”
If this issue is raised, evidence will be placed before the court, which will normally rule as a preliminary matter whether the plea is substantiated; if it is, the projected trial will be prevented from proceeding. In some countries, including Canada, Mexico and the United States, the guarantee against being “twice put in jeopardy” is a constitutional right. In other countries, the protection is afforded by statute. (Wikipedia)
It will be interesting to see how Riza Aziz’s lawyers fight his case. The United States Department of Justice (US DoJ) has already punished Riza as the owner of Red Granite Pictures. Now the Malaysian government is, again, punishing him.
First of all, can someone be punished twice (or ten times) in Malaysia for the same crime? I am not clear about the double jeopardy law in Malaysia or whether Malaysia even has one.
The MACC might even charge Najb’s cat if they can find something to use against it
Next, was the crime Riza was alleged to have committed done in Malaysia or in the US? If it was done in the US then does Malaysia have jurisdiction to prosecute him in a Malaysian court?
Sigh, I wish I had taken law instead of motor engineering, history, religion and philosophy. Anyway, Riza’s lawyers would know what to do. The main issue here is it appears like the Pakatan Harapan government is out to get Najib Tun Razak’s entire family down to his cat.
I do not think they are going to succeed and all they want is to keep Najib busy over the next few years until Mahathir dies and PM8 takes over the country.
By GE15, Malaysia’s debts will really touch RM1 trillion as Pakatan Harapan has been wishing for
In the meantime, no one is really running the country and Malaysia’s debts will touch RM1 trillion by GE15 in 2023, as what Pakatan Harapan has been wishing for since May 2018.
And by GE15, around RM500 billion worth of assets will be sold off to help pay for the cost of running Malaysia, RM100 billon a year of that cost (or totalling RM500 billion by 2023) just to pay for the civil service cost alone. Malays call this mahal tali dari lembu.
