Parminder Kaur, 61, and Bir Singh, 65, however, saw a three-member Court of Appeal bench chaired by Justice Hadhariah Syed Ismail reduce their nine-year custodial sentences to six.

Hadhariah said the High Court had not erred when affirming the finding of the sessions court on the crucial issue of forgery involving the property.

“We are also satisfied with the finding of facts by the sessions court judge that Form 14A (the memorandum of transfer) was forged as alleged,” said Hadhariah, who sat with Justices M Gunalan and Azman Abdullah.

She said the bench was also of the view that although some Inland Revenue Board-related documents were not admitted as evidence, that alone did not raise any reasonable doubt in the prosecution’s case to warrant appellate intervention.

“For this reason, we find the convictions are right and safe. The High Court ruling is affirmed,” she said.

Hadhariah, however, said the nine-year jail term imposed on the couple was excessive as the sessions court did not consider certain relevant facts at the point of sentencing.

Parminder committed the offence at the Selangor lands and mines office in Shah Alam on April 10, 2013 by using as genuine a forged document to transfer a piece of property located in Bukit Permata in Gombak, Selangor.

Under Section 467 of the Penal Code, the principal offender and abettor are each liable to be sentenced to up to 20 years in jail and to a fine, if convicted.

Lawyer Afifuddin Ahmad Hafifi represented the couple while deputy public prosecutors Tetralina Ahmad Fauzi and Fauziah Daud appeared for the prosecution.