Malaysian senior lawyer and three business partners fined for contumacious and disrespectful of the Federal Court The trio had accused the Federal Cou

(FREEMALAYSIATODAY PHOTO: Ding Toh Biew, Ding Toh Gien and Ding Toh Lei with lawyer LK Chieng outside the Federal Court after the court verdict)

Story by V. Anbalagan - FreeMalaysiaToday 

PUTRAJAYA: Senior lawyer Mohamed Haniff Khatri Abdulla was fined RM30,000 today after he was found guilty of undermining a 2017 Federal Court ruling in a civil case concerning the purchase of a property.

Three partners of a moneylending firm – Ding Toh Biew, Ding Toh Gien and Ding Toh Lei – were also fined RM50,000 each for a similar offence of showing disrespect for the apex court judgment.

They had accused the Federal Court of being bias, following a High Court order for them to return two pieces of land in Perak and remove impediments on the property.

A three-member Federal Court bench chaired by Abdul Rahman Sebli said the judiciary would not take lightly anyone in contempt of the court and judges.

“The sentence must reflect the severity of the crime, and contempt of court is one of them,” he said.

Rahman, who sat with Zabariah Mohd Yusof and Hasnah Mohammed Hashim, said the bench imposed a RM50,000 fine or one-month jail as the trio did not express regret or show remorse to the court after they were found guilty.

“Instead, they were persistent that they acted on the advice of Haniff. This is not mitigation but an excuse,” he said.

Rahman said Haniff had apologised to the court unequivocally and unconditionally.

“However, we took into account that the offence was committed by a senior member of the Bar and an officer of the court against the Federal Court,” he said.

The court also ordered the trio to pay an additional RM50,000 and Haniff RM10,000 in costs to the applicants, Ling Peek Hoe and Ling Boon Huat.

The bench also allowed the four to settle their fines by Friday.

In 2012, the High Court in Ipoh allowed Peek Hoe and Boon Huat’s suit that the Sitiawan- based moneylending firm Golden Star and the three partners return two pieces of land and remove other impediments on the property within 60 days of the judgment.

The defendants successfully appealed to the Court of Appeal but in 2017, the Federal Court set aside the decision and reinstated the High Court ruling.

Dissatisfied, Golden Star and the three partners filed for a review of the Federal Court judgment, and Haniff was appointed to represent them.

Haniff and the trio were said to have accused the Federal Court bench of bias and applied for a review application for a stay of the Federal Court ruling in a High Court.

The stay application should have been made before the Federal Court.

Following this, Peek Hoe and Boon Huat, who were represented by lawyers Edmund Lim and Hong Chang, filed contempt proceedings against Haniff, Golden Star and the three partners.

Earlier, Hasnah, reading the court’s unanimous verdict of guilt against the four, said the contempt of court had been proved beyond reasonable doubt for intentional disobedience of the Federal Court.

“We are therefore of the view that such behaviour of the respondents was contumacious and disrespectful,” she said.

Hasnah the contempt action was filed as the respondents interfered in the administration of justice and cast aspersion on the imagery of the Federal Court judges.

“An allegation of bias is very serious and will erode public confidence in the judiciary,” she said.

She said Haniff, who was represented by Mohamed Reza Abu Hassan, was duty-bound to follow a court order and anyone who flouted it risked being in contempt.

She said Haniff had been in practice for more than 20 years and “he was not a novice”.

“As a lawyer and an officer of the court, he should protect the dignity of the bench. Instead, he brought to disrepute by blatantly challenging the judgment,” she said.

Lawyer LK Chieng appeared Toh Biew, Toh Gien and Toh Lei.