Court sets March 7 to decide on constitutionality of MACC Act Sec 62
GEORGE TOWN: The decision on whether Section 62 of the Malaysian Anti Corruption Commission Act 2009 contravenes the Federal Constitution will be made known on March 7.
Penang High Court Judge Datuk Hadhariah Syed Ismail set the date after lawyers for Chief Minister Lim Guan Eng and businesswomen Phang Li Khoon and the prosecution presented their arguments today.
Lim and Phang are seeking to declare the provision unconstitutional as they claimed it violates the tenet of presumed innocent until proven guilty.
Both are facing charges under the Act in relation to the sale and purchase of a bungalow in 2014 with trial set for several dates from March to July.
Acting for Lim was Gobind Singh who told the Court the provision in question restricted the defence of the accused person by allowing a limited submission of evidence.
He said any provision which restricted the rights of an accused person to remain silent contravenes Article 5(1) - no person to be deprived of life or liberty save by law - and Article 8 (1) - everyone is equal before the law and entitled to equal protection - of the Federal Constitution.
Datuk V. Sithambaran, representing Phang, meanwhile told the Court Section 62 restricted the conduct of the defence even before the case was heard and that the provision limited the defence of an accused person to a mere statement of defence and prevented the submission of additional evidence during trial.
"The court has not called for defence and yet the prosecution is asking for the statement of defence, even before the court decides. This is against the presumption of innocence," he said.
The prosecution team lead Masry Mohd Daud however begged to differ saying Section 62 was procedural and a general provision which had nothing to do with Section 68 of the Act.
He said the defence did not have to submit a full defence and could even submit a one-line defence and submit additional defence during the hearing and no action would be taken.