KUALA LUMPUR: The Sessions Court here allowed counsel acting for corporate lawyer Datuk E Sreesanthan to refer to the High Court constitutional law questions, including the authority of an investigation officer of the Securities Commission (SC) to enter premises without a search warrant.
Judge Datuk Rozana Ali told Sreesanthan’s lead counsel Datuk Cyrus Das that since the notice of the application filed by the defence team on Sept 19 involved points of law and the Federal Constitution, all questions raised should be decided at the High Court before the commencement of the trial proper.
Cyrus told the court that the defence would inform the lower court (Sessions Court) on the progress of the application at
the High Court.
Other than the issue of the search warrant, the applicant (Sreesanthan) also asked the court to interpret Section 128 of the Securities Commission Act 1993 authorising the seizure and detention of any document from any person during a criminal investigation. Also on Sept 19, Sreesanthan, 52, filed a separate application to strike off all the seven charges made against him by the SC.
On July 20, Sreesanthan, a former independent non-executive director of Sime Darby Bhd, claimed trial to seven counts of insider trading, involving 625,000 shares in Sime Darby Bhd, Maxis Communications Bhd, UEM World Bhd and VADS Bhd.
He allegedly used the information on the acquisition, privatisation and corporate restructuring exercises of the said companies at his disposal between 2006 and 2008 to acquire the shares.
On the first three charges, Sreesanthan is alleged to have acquired 75,000 units of Sime Darby Bhd shares, ahead of the special purpose vehicle Synergy Drive Sdn Bhd’s acquisition of nine companies within its group, which included Sime Engineering Services Bhd, Golden Hope Plantations Bhd and Kumpulan Guthrie Bhd.
The next two charges involved the acquisition of 200,000 units of UEM World Bhd shares and 100,000 units of VADS Berhad shares while in possession of insider information on UEM Group’s corporate restructuring and proposed privatisation of VADS Bhd, respectively. — Bernama