This comes after the Court of Appeal, in a rare exception, allowed deputy superintendent Ismail Syed Merah’s leave application for review.
Under Rule 105 of the Court of Appeal Rules 1994, a bench can use its inherent powers to prevent injustice or an abuse of court process.
A three-member bench chaired by Justice Kamaludin Said allowed the application after hearing submissions by lawyer Wan Azmir Wan Majid and deputy public prosecutor Dusuki Mokhtar.
The bench also fixed the matter for case management before a deputy registrar on Dec 20 to give directions to the parties.
Today, Wan Azmir submitted that an earlier bench had ruled that the prosecution was only required to prove the elements of money laundering charges brought against Ismail on the lower standard of proof, namely on a “balance of probabilities”, instead of the higher burden of “beyond reasonable doubt” usually applied to criminal cases.
The lawyer said the High Court had used the “balance of probabilities” standard when convicting Ismail, a decision which was later upheld by the Court of Appeal.
On March 22, a three-member bench led by Justice Has Zanah Mehat also allowed the prosecution’s appeal to enhance the jail sentence from a four-year term previously imposed on Ismail, 59, by the Johor Bahru High Court.
The bench also allowed the prosecution’s appeal to impose a total fine of RM42 million, or another 48 months in jail if the amount was not settled.
The appellate court had also dismissed Ismail’s appeal against his conviction and jail sentence.
Ismail was charged with five counts of using monies obtained from unlawful activities, involving RM10,143.37, RM40,000, RM6,283.09, RM993,716.91 and RM500,000, respectively, to buy and increase investments in the Takaful Life Insurance Protection Plan and Takaful Link Plan registered under the name of his daughter, Nur Aqillah.
He also faced two other charges of committing money laundering, involving RM499,620 and RM29,950, by using a third party account belonging to one Tan Kim Tee.
He committed the offences at the MAA Takaful building on Jalan Tun Razak, Johor Bahru, and at RHB and CIMB on Jalan Rahmat in Batu Pahat, Johor, between Sept 4, 2014 and Dec 28, 2015.
He also faced another charge of possessing RM1.27 million and 8,178,000 rupiah in proceeds from unlawful activities in his house.
In 2019, the Johor Bahru sessions court acquitted him of all charges.
However, in 2020, the High Court convicted him of all the charges and sentenced him to four years’ jail on each charge, which were to run concurrently.