Court Of Appeal Upholds Conviction, Sentence Against Peter Anthony For Falsifying Documents

PUTRAJAYA, March 4 (Bernama) -- The Court of Appeal today upheld former Sabah Infrastructure Development Minister Datuk Peter Anthony’s conviction and sentence of three years imprisonment and RM50,000 fine for falsifying documents related to a maintenance and service contract at Universiti Malaysia Sabah (UMS) 11 years ago.

This followed a decision by a panel of three Court of Appeal judges, comprising Datuk Ahmad Zaidi Ibrahim, Datuk Mohamed Zaini Mazlan and Datuk Azmi Ariffin in dismissing Peter’s appeal against his conviction and sentence handed down by the Kuala Lumpur Sessions Court on May 26, 2022.

The court ordered the Melalap Assemblyman to serve the sentence from today.

Peter, 54, filed the appeal to overturn his conviction and three-year prison sentence, along with a fine of RM50,000 on April 19, 2023.

The appeal was dismissed by the High Court on April 18, 2023, making this his final appeal.

Peter had paid the fine.

He was charged in his capacity as managing director of Syarikat Asli Jati Sdn Bhd with forging a letter from the office of UMS Deputy Vice-Chancellor,  dated June 9, 2014, by inserting a false statement to use it for fraudulent purposes.

The offence was allegedly committed at the office of the Prime Minister’s principal private secretary at the Perdana Putra building in Putrajaya between June 13 and Aug 21, 2014.

Justice Mohamed Zaini when reading out the judgment said the appellate court should not alter the factual findings of the lower court unless those findings are shown to be incorrect. 

"This is especially important when the conclusions depend heavily on the credibility of the witnesses and the impressions formed by the court that directly observed and assessed their honesty and accuracy. 

"We are convinced that the Sessions Court provided a thorough judicial evaluation of the evidence, and we find no errors that would justify intervention by the appellate court.

Therefore, we conclude that the conviction of the accused is sound. We dismiss the appellant’s appeal and uphold the conviction and sentence imposed by the Sessions Court," he said.

Justice Mohamed Zaini said the appellate court also concurred with the Sessions Court's determination that the appellant had forged the letter to commit fraud and deceived third prosecution witness (SP3) Mohd Shukur Mohd Din, SP8 (former UMS deputy vice-chancellor (Academic and International) Professor Dr Shariff Abdul Kadir S. Omang) and SP9 (former UMS Registrar Datuk Abdullah Mohd Said) into believing that the letter was related to the Smart Partnership project.

"Additionally, the court found that the appellant used the letter to mislead SP12 (Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak) into thinking that he had UMS’s support for securing the M&E (Mechanical and Electrical Systems) contract through direct negotiations for five years, despite the contract already been awarded to REMT through an open tender process. 

"We also agree with the court’s finding that it was sufficient to demonstrate that the appellant forged the letter with the intent to commit fraud, and it was unnecessary to prove that he succeeded in achieving his fraudulent aims," he said.

The judge also said the court concurred with the Sessions Court's finding that the appellant was aware that the M&E contract went through an open tender process, as the company participated as one of the bidders. 

"SP1 (former vice-chancellor UMS Professor Datuk Dr Mohd Harun Abdullah) testified that the appellant reprimanded him when their company was not awarded Phase 2B of the M&E contract. The Sessions Court appropriately considered the appellant's subsequent behaviour as a relevant fact under Section 8 of the Evidence Act 1950," he added.

--  BERNAMA