Justice Zaini Mazlan said the trial court had found Shariff’s testimony credible.
“He (Shariff) claimed that he signed the letter without reviewing its contents because he relied on businessman Shukur Din, and this was not deemed inherently implausible,” he said in the unanimous judgment of the appellate court today to dismiss Peter’s final appeal against his sentence and conviction.
Also on the bench hearing the appeal were Justices Ahmad Zaidi Ibrahim and Azmi Ariffin.
Zaini said the trial court saw no motive for Shariff to act dishonestly, given his age and senior position at the university. He said it was unlikely that Shariff would have risked his status.
Peter had argued that Shariff was the author of the letter, and that he (Peter) could only be deemed responsible if he had inserted the title after Shariff signed it.
Peter, the then managing director of Syarikat Asli Jati, also questioned the truthfulness of Shariff’s testimony which said he had signed the letter without reading it, as he relied on Shukur for guidance.
Zaini said the bench agreed with the sessions court’s findings that Peter had forged the letter by inserting the title, satisfying the elements of the charge under Section 468 of the Penal Code.
He said it was a well-established legal principle that an appellate court should not interfere with a trial court’s factual findings unless they are proven to be erroneous.
“This is especially important when the conclusions depend heavily on the credibility of the witnesses and the impressions formed by the court that directly observed and assessed their honesty and accuracy,” he said.
He said the trial judge had provided a thorough judicial evaluation of the evidence, with no errors warranting intervention by the appellate court.
Zaini said circumstantial evidence indicated that only Peter could have committed forgery with the intention of cheating.
The judge said Peter deceived Shukur, Shariff, and then UMS registrar Abdullah Said into believing that the letter was linked to a Smart Partnership project.
He said neither Shukur, Shariff, nor Abdullah had any financial interest in the mechanical and electrical (M&E) contract, whereas Peter and his company stood to gain from it.
He also noted that Peter had used the letter to mislead former prime minister Najib Razak into thinking that he had UMS’s support in securing the M&E contract through direct negotiations for five years.
The letter falsely conveyed that UMS had no objection and fully backed a joint venture between ULink, a UMS subsidiary, and Syarikat Asli Jati for Phase 2B of the M&E contract – despite the fact that the contract had already been awarded to REMT Utama Sdn Bhd through an open tender.
Although the contract was eventually awarded to Syarikat Asli Jati, it was revoked when UMS and the Prime Minister’s Office uncovered misconduct linked to the forged letter.
As a result, Peter was charged while Shariff and Abdullah faced disciplinary action from UMS.
Zaini said Peter’s defence was a mere denial and afterthought, as it was not raised during the investigation or presented to the prosecution’s witnesses, particularly Shukur and the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC) investigating officers.
The Melalap assemblyman, who had been on an RM80,000 bail pending his appeal, began his three-year jail term today.
The Parti Kesejahteraan Demokratik Masyarakat president will lose his Sabah state assembly seat unless he obtains a pardon from the Yang di-Pertuan Agong, since the offence was committed in Putrajaya.
Peter, 53, was convicted of forging a letter dated June 9, 2014 by inserting a false statement with the intention of using it for fraudulent purposes.
He committed the offence at the office of the principal private secretary to then prime minister Najib at the Perdana Putra building in Putrajaya between June 13 and Aug 21, 2014.
Deputy public prosecutors Wan Shaharuddin Wan Ladin, Haresh Prakash Somiah, and Nurul Atiqah Alias appeared for MACC while Nicholas Kow, Emile Ezra Hussain, and Putri Alyra Narisha Abdul Hadi represented Peter.