This was after Tamrin, who is the son of former deputy prime minister, the late Ghafar Baba, lost his appeal in the Court of Appeal today to get his case transferred to the Kuala Lumpur sessions court for trial.
The Court of Appeal’s three-member bench comprising Justices P Ravinthran, Ahmad Zaidi Ibrahim and Azman Abdullah dismissed his appeal after ruling that the reasons given by Tamrin for the transfer that there could be a possibility of bias and interference, were without any merits.
“We agree with the High Court and sessions court that the ground (given by Tamrin) to transfer (his case to the Kuala Lumpur sessions court) is without any merits.
“One must not assume that a judicial officer will be biased in favour of the royalty. By the same token, it must not be assumed that there would be interference in this case and the course of justice would be subverted,” said Ravinthran, who delivered the court’s decision.
He said the court disagreed with the contention of Tamrin’s lawyer, Rafique Rashid Ali, that the Kuala Lumpur sessions court can hear any criminal cases from any part of Peninsular Malaysia following a case law authority in Public Prosecutor vs Abul Hassan Mohamed Rashid.
In that case, the Court of Appeal had ruled that the Kuala Lumpur sessions court can try cases from any part of the peninsula as the Yang di-Pertuan Agong has not limited the jurisdiction of the lower court in the Federal Territory of Kuala Lumpur under the Subordinate Courts Act 1948.
However, deputy public prosecutor Dusuki Mokhtar said that case law authority should not be applied to Tamrin’s case as the circumstances of his case were different.
Tamrin’s case has been fixed for mention before the Johor Bahru sessions court on March 21.
Tamrin, 73, had claimed trial on March 10, 2021 to a charge of making an offensive statement against the Johor royalty through his blog “tamrintunghafar”, which is linked to his Facebook page, at the Media RPO Services office, Jalan Persiaran Southkey 1, Kota Southkey, Johor Bahru, at about 7pm on Feb 2, 2020.
The blog posting involved an article about crown prince Tunku Ismail Sultan Ibrahim and Sultan Ibrahim Sultan Iskandar.
The charge, under Section 233(1)(a) of the Communications and Multimedia Act (CMA) 1998, provides for a fine not exceeding RM50,000, or imprisonment for up to a year, or both, upon conviction, and shall also be liable to a further fine of RM1,000 for every day during which the offence is continued after conviction.
Tamrin was released on bail of RM8,000 with one surety.
He subsequently applied for his case to be transferred to Kuala Lumpur giving reasons, among others, that he would be prejudiced if his case is heard in Johor Bahru as it involved the Johor royalty.
On Sept 5, 2021, the Johor Bahru sessions court dismissed his application to transfer the case. The Johor Bahru High Court subsequently rejected his appeal on April 7 last year.