On May 6, P Ramasamy was sentenced by the Kuala Kubu Bharu magistrates’ court to one month in prison and fined RM3,000 after he purportedly pleaded guilty to the offence under Section 4A(1) of the Election Offences Act 1954.

However, both conviction and sentence were set aside by the Shah Alam High Court on May 23.

Judicial commissioner Wendy Ooi also ordered that Ramasamy, 66, who was unrepresented when he appeared in the lower court, be charged again and retried for the offence.

Ooi said Ramasamy did not understand the charge against him or the nature and consequences of the offence he was facing. She also found that he had not entered a guilty plea.

Last Thursday, Ramasamy pleaded not guilty when he was charged again in the same magistrates’ court for the offence. He was released after posting bail set at RM4,000 by the court.

His lawyer, Rajesh Nagarajan, confirmed receipt of the notice of appeal, dated May 30, from Dusuki Mokhtar, head of the Attorney-General’s Chambers’ appellate and trial division.

“This effectively means the prosecutors are planning to ask the appeals court to reinstate the earlier jail and fine sentence meted out to my client.

“We will fight this,” the lawyer told FMT.

Ramasamy, from Tanjung Rambutan, Perak, is alleged to have committed the offence when using a four-wheel drive at Taman Bukit Bunga in Kuala Kubu Bharu on May 4.

Rajesh said his client pleaded not guilty before the magistrate on May 30 after confirming that he understood the charge read out to him in Tamil.