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Crooked lawyers jailed seven days
KUALA LUMPUR, April 2, 2024: A Sessions Court today jailed two lawyers and their client seven days for contempt by the Court of Appeal for filing a false witness statement.
Sessions Court judge Halilah Suboh said a fine would not reflect the gravity of the situation.
No News Is Bad News reproduces below a news report on the court proceedings:
2 lawyers, client sent to prison for filing false evidence
-02 Apr 2024, 06:44 PM
In sentencing the trio to seven days in jail, sessions court judge Halilah Suboh says a fine will not reflect the gravity of the situation.
A three-member Court of Appeal bench had previously found the trio guilty of filing a false witness statement for one Allen David Martinez without his approval. (Pexels pic)
KUALA LUMPUR: Two lawyers and their client have been sentenced to seven days in prison by the sessions court here after they were found guilty of contempt by the Court of Appeal for filing a false witness statement.
Last October, a three-member Court of Appeal bench led by Vazeer Alam Mydin Meera found Mark Robin Tallala and G Mahadeva, as well as their client Jagmohan Singh Sandhu, guilty of filing a false witness statement for Allen David Martinez without his approval at the sessions court in 2020.
Sessions court judge Halilah Suboh today reminded the respondents that officers of the court had a responsibility to carry out their duties based on the principle of justice, adding that a fine would not reflect the gravity of the situation.
“This court finds that punishment in the form of imprisonment is suitable and reasonable. A fine is not suitable because it does not show the seriousness of the offence,” she said.
“Therefore, after reviewing the submission by both parties, the court sentences the respondents to seven days in prison,” she said.
However, Halilah allowed a stay of execution as requested by lawyer Harpal Singh Grewal pending appeal of the sentence at the High Court.
According to a report in the New Straits Times, the false evidence came to light after Martinez filed an affidavit in 2020 denying the impugned witness statement, stating that he had never communicated with or met Tallala and Mahadeva before the filing of the said statement.
The duo admitted to Martinez’s claim but shifted the blame to Jagmohan. They said they had relied solely on their client’s instruction and the supposition that the latter had finalised the content of the witness statement with Martinez.
In the NST report, the appellate court said lawyers could not entrust their clients with the responsibility of obtaining confirmation from witnesses.
It said this showed the lawyer’s conduct went beyond a “mistake” and encroached on the realm of inconsiderate presumptions and dishonesty.
The Court of Appeal found the lawyers and their client guilty of contempt and returned the case to the sessions court to deliver the sentence.
The appellate court set aside the ruling by the High Court and sessions court that previously dismissed the application for contempt proceedings by the petitioner Bhavanash Sharma.
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