PUTRAJAYA (July 22): The Securities Commission Malaysia (SC) will make a preliminary objection (PO) to former Repco Holdings Bhd executive chairman Low Thiam Hock's appeal for a review of the trial notes the Sessions Court used in arriving at its decision in 2016 to convict him of market manipulation over 20 years ago. The hearing of this appeal has been fixed for Aug 24 at the Federal Court.
The date was fixed following case management before the Federal Court registrar today. A check done by theedgemarkets.com on the court's case list revealed the hearing date.
Sources familiar with the matter indicated that the SC would be filing the PO to Low's appeal. His appeal at the Court of Appeal (COA) over the legitimacy of the Sessions Court's notes was dismissed last Oct 12, as the appellate court upheld the High Court's decision to dismiss his application for a revision.
During his appeal at the COA, Low's lead counsel Tan Sri Muhammad Shafee Abdullah argued that Sessions Court judge Mat Ghani Abdullah had provided conflicting notes of proceedings to the High Court, thereby raising doubts as to whether the trial judge referred to the right notes in reaching the decision in 2016 to convict his client.
However, the COA's three-member bench, led by Federal Court judge Datuk Rhodzariah Bujang, unanimously held that the Sessions Court judge had referred to the right notes that had been agreed upon by both parties, and dismissed Low's appeal. This dismissal is what Low is now appealing, the hearing of which has now been fixed for next month.
Low, better known in the corporate world as Repco Low, is also in the process of appealing against his five-year jail sentence and RM5 million fine that were handed down by the Sessions Court that found him guilty in 2016 of market manipulation.
The hearing for this appeal has been scheduled for this coming Monday (July 26) before High Court Judicial Commissioner Datuk Azhar Abdul Hamid. Low, however, is expected to request for a stay of proceedings pending the outcome of the Federal Court's decision on his appeal for a review of the proceeding notes.
Low was charged in December 1997 at the Sessions Court here for carrying out acts calculated to create a misleading appearance, with respect to the price of Repco company's shares on the Kuala Lumpur Stock Exchange. This is an offence under Section 84(1) of the Securities Industry Act 1983.
Low was initially acquitted without his defence being called, and the decision was upheld by the High Court. But the COA reversed the decision and ordered him to enter his defence.
On the resumption of his trial for the offence at the Sessions Court, he was subsequently found guilty of the offence and sentenced in 2016.