Deputy public prosecutor Fuad Abdul Aziz said Dr R Kunaseegaran knew Morais as he had prosecuted him (Kunaseegaran) on corruption charges.

“The other five appellants never knew the deceased, but circumstantial evidence points to Kunaseegaran having had a motive to murder the deceased.

“The rest who participated in the crime took instruction from him (Kunaseegaran),” Fuad said in reply to submissions made by lawyers for the six appellants on March 13.

The appeal is being heard before a three-member bench chaired by Chief Justice Tengku Maimun Tuan Mat.

Justices Abang Iskandar Abang Hashim and Rhodzariah Bujang are also hearing the appeal.

Fuad said Kunaseegaran was disgusted with Morais as the deceased had added corruption charges against the appellant during that trial.

He said Kunaseegaran had also told the remaining appellants that he was prepared to pay for their legal fees as their predicament was the result of his “involvement”.

Further, he said the appellant was calm and composed when an accomplice, G Gunasekaran, told him (Kunaseegaran) about blood oozing from a drum where Morais’s body was concealed.

“This could not be the demeanour of a person not involved in serious crime,” he added.

Fuad said the trial judge did not misdirect himself in finding all the men guilty of murder.

Lawyer N Sivananthan, who is representing Kunaseegaran, had on March 13 urged the bench to reject evidence from Gunasekaran as he was not credible.

Gunasekaran was initially jointly charged with murdering Morais, but the prosecution later withdrew its case against him. He then became a key prosecution witness.

He later pleaded guilty in the sessions court and was sentenced to two years in jail for concealing Morais’s body and disposing of the number plate of the deceased’s car.

Last year, the Court of Appeal upheld the death penalty imposed on Kunaseegaran, S Ravi Chandran, R Dinishwaran, AK Thinesh Kumar, M Vishwanath and S Nimalan as they had a common intention to kill Morais.

Y Sheelan Samuagan acted for Dinishwaran, Kitson Foong for Ravi Chandran, Burhanudeen Abdul Wahid for Thinesh Kumar, Afifuddin Ahmad Hafifi for Vishwanath and Amer Hamzah Arshad for Nimalan.

The lawyers, in their submissions, had taken the common position that the murder charge had not been proven, and at best, their clients were guilty of abducting Morais.

The High Court sentenced them to death on July 10, 2020, after they were found guilty of murdering Morais on Sept 4, 2015, somewhere between Sentul, Kuala Lumpur, and Subang Jaya in Selangor.

Morais, 55, was reported missing on Sept 4, 2015, and was last seen leaving his apartment at Menara Duta in Kuala Lumpur in his official car. His body was found in an oil drum filled with cement in Subang Jaya 12 days later.

The prosecution contends that some of the accused in a car staged an accident with the vehicle driven by Morais as he was leaving his home to abduct him.

The hearing has been adjourned to a date to be fixed pending case management tomorrow.