Thursday 28 Mar 2024
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PUTRAJAYA (Jan 12): All hearings and trials in the open court scheduled to take place between Jan 13 and Jan 26 have been postponed to new dates to be announced later, the Federal Court Registry said today.

Exceptions can be made for urgent cases subject to the approval of either Chief Judge of Malaya Tan Sri Azahar Mohamed or Chief Judge of Sabah and Sarawak Datuk Abang Iskandar Abang Hashim, the registry said in a statement.

Among the trials expected to be affected in the coming weeks include former prime minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak's 1Malaysia Development Bhd (1MDB) audit tampering trial scheduled for Jan 18 to 21 and also the verdict in the Federal Court tomorrow on the prosecution's appeal over forfeiture against Bintulu Member of Parliament (MP) Datuk Seri Tiong King Sing and Kuala Dimensi Sdn Bhd.

It added that for all civil trials, its directive dated Jan 8 this year is applicable where proceedings in the High Court, Sessions Court or Magistrates Court can be done online from the respective residences.

On matters concerning remands, they can be done normally in court while the extension of remands can be done online.

For case management of criminal cases, in all courts from the Magistrates Court, Sessions Court, High Court and Court of Appeal, up to the Federal Court, they can be done online.

For registration of new criminal cases, the statement added that the investigating officer needs to inform the court earlier for purposes of preparation and the mention date, where the actual date would be fixed after the movement control order (MCO) ends.

For urgent motions filed in the Federal Court, Court of Appeal, High Court or Sessions Court, they can be filed with the respective registrar or deputy registrar to be dealt with, and they would in turn get directions from their respective judges on the next course of action.

Yesterday, Prime Minister Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin announced the implementation of the MCO in five states effective from tomorrow (Jan 13) to Jan 26 in Selangor, Penang, Melaka, Johor, Sabah and the federal territories of Kuala Lumpur, Labuan and Putrajaya.

Meanwhile, the conditional MCO (CMCO) will be imposed on Pahang, Perak, Negeri Sembilan, Kedah, Terengganu and Kelantan, while Perlis and Sarawak will be placed under the recovery MCO (RMCO).

Today, it was also reported that Yang di Pertuan Agong Al-Sultan Abdullah Ri’ayatuddin Al-Mustafa Billah Shah had consented to declaring the state of emergency until Aug 1, 2021 to control the spread of Covid-19.

Edited ByS Kanagaraju & Surin Murugiah
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