Chief Justice Tengku Maimun Tuan Mat, who led a three-member Federal Court bench, said the lower courts did not consider all the defences of V Sathya.

She said this was a statutory breach under Section 182A of the Criminal Procedure Code.

“So there is a serious miscarriage of justice that warrants the conviction to be set aside,” she said in ordering an acquittal.

The bench, which also comprised Justices Nallini Pathmanathan and Zabidin Diah, dismissed the prosecution’s submission to uphold the conviction by using a proviso in the Court of Judicature Act.

“The proviso under Section 92 of the Courts of Judicature Act is only applicable in rare and exceptional cases and must be treated with caution and circumspect,” Tengku Maimun said.

“In this case, the proviso cannot be used to circumvent the breach under Section 182A.”

The prosecution wanted the apex court to use the proviso and save the conviction as no “substantial miscarriage of justice has occurred”.

On June 15, a three-member bench also led by Tengku Maimun had allowed Sathya’s review application for breach of natural justice and set aside a Feb 8 judgment that affirmed his death sentence.

This resulted in the appeal of Sathya, 30, to be reheard.

Sathya, then a student in risk management at a private college in Kuala Lumpur, and his girlfriend were jointly charged with trafficking 1.8kg and 2.2kg of methamphetamine or syabu, concealed in two suitcases.

The offences were said to have been committed at the then low-cost carrier terminal near KLIA on Sept 26, 2013.

The girlfriend was acquitted at the close of the defence’s case but Sathya was convicted and sentenced to death on Nov 27, 2017.

The Court of Appeal later dismissed his appeal.

Satya was represented by Hisyam Teh Poh Teik, M Athimulan, Salim Bashir, Abdul Rashid Ismail, Low Wei Loke and Kee Wei Lon.

Deputy public prosecutors Manoj Kurup, Dusuki Mokhtar and Ng Siew Wee appeared for the prosecution.

In a separate case, cybercafe manager Shukri Abdul Rasid was also acquitted by the same bench for possessing 700gm of methamphetamine in a car.

Shukri, 40, had been sentenced to death by the High Court for trafficking, but the Court of Appeal reduced the charge and sentenced him to 15 years and 10 strokes of the rotan.

He appealed the conviction in the Federal Court.

Lawyer Afifuddin Ahmad Hafifi represented Shukri while Leo Saga prosecuted.