Hight Court rules against SOSMA use for Khairuddin, Matthias

The Kuala Lumpur High Court today has ruled out that the charge made against former Batu Kawan UMNO vice-chief Datuk Seri Khairuddin Abu Hassan and lawyer Matthias Chang did not fall under the Security Offences (Special Measures) Act 2012 (SOSMA).

Judge Datuk Mohd Azman Husin also ordered the case to commence in the Sessions Court, allowing bail of RM10,000 each for the duo.

Khairuddin, 53, and Chang, 65, were charged with attempting to sabotage Malaysia's banking and financial services at five locations between June 28 and Aug 26, this year, under Section 124L of the Penal Code read with Section 34 of the same Code, which carries a jail term of up to 15 years upon conviction. The locations are the office of the France Economic and Financial Crimes Division chief in Paris; Charing Cross Police station, London, United Kingdom; office of the Switzerland Attorney General in Bern; WaiChan police station, Hongkong; and, Cantonment Police Headquarters, Singapore.

The duo filed a motion at the High Court seeking several orders, among others, that the charge against them did not fall under SOSMA and wanted the court to release them on bail.

However, Mohd Azman on Oct 19, had referred their case to the Federal Court to determine the constitutionality of the charge and on Nov 3, the Federal Court remitted the case to the High Court and ordered it to decide on whether the charge made against the duo fell under SOSMA.