KOTA KINABALU: The former Sabah infrastructure development minister Datuk Peter Anthony has been granted permission by the Court of Appeal in Putrajaya to present new evidence for his final appeal against his conviction for forgery.
According to FMT, a three-member bench, led by Justice Vazeer Alam Mydin Meera, allowed Peter to introduce the evidence during the appeal hearing after the prosecution expressed no objections.
Justices Azman Abdullah and Azizul Azmi Adnan were also part of the panel.
Peter’s lead counsel, Nicholas Kow, stated that the application, filed last year, aimed to include a police report from a crucial witness as evidence.
Deputy public prosecutor Wan Shaharuddin Wan Ladin confirmed that the prosecution did not oppose the application as the report had no impact on their case.
Peter, who was the managing director of Syarikat Asli Jati at the time, was convicted by the Kuala Lumpur sessions court for forging a letter from the office of the Universiti Malaysia Sabah vice-chancellor.
The letter was dated June 9, 2014, and contained a false statement intended for fraudulent purposes.
The offence was committed at the office of the principal private secretary to then prime minister Najib Razak at Perdana Putra in Putrajaya between June 13 and August 21, 2014.
Peter was sentenced to three years’ imprisonment and fined RM50,000, which he has already paid.
In the previous appeal to the High Court, Justice Ahmad Bache affirmed the trial judge’s decision, stating that there were no errors in law or fact.
Ahmad agreed that the defence failed to create a reasonable doubt in the prosecution’s case and emphasized the credibility of the prosecution’s key witnesses.