KUALA LUMPUR: Datuk Seri Khairuddin Abu Hassan failed to strike out the sabotage charge against him after the High Court here yesterday accepted the prosecution’s preliminary objection against his application.
The former Batu Kawan Umno Division deputy chief stands accused of attempting to sabotage the country’s banking and financial services.
Judicial Commissioner Datuk Nordin Hassan in his ruling said the court had no jurisdiction to assert that attorney-general Tan Sri Mohamed Apandi Ali did not have the authority to move the charge against Khairuddin.
The judge said it was the Yang Di-Pertuan Agong who appointed the attorney-general, on the advice of the Prime Minister, as provided for in Article 145 of the Federal Constitution.
In this regard, the prerogative of the Yang Di-Pertuan Agong is nonjusticiable, Nordin decided after hearing submissions from both parties.
Earlier, deputy public prosecutor Mohamad Abazafree Mohd Abbas raised the preliminary objection that Khairuddin had abused the court’s process by filing the notice of motion to strike out the charge.
This was because an appeal filed by the prosecution against a high court decision in relation to the case was still pending, he submitted.
DPP said the application was nonjusticiable and premature to be heard by the court.
Khairuddin’s lawyer Mohamed Haniff Khatri Abdulla submitted that the notice of motion was based on the validity of the charge when it was brought against the applicant on Oct 12, 2015.
He argued that Mohamed Apandi did not have authority as attorney-general when he instituted the charge against Khairuddin.
The politician had applied to dismiss the charge under Section 124L of the Penal Code.
On Oct 12, 2015, Khairuddin, 54, was charged in court with lawyer Matthias Chang Wen Chieh, 66, with attempting to sabotage the country’s banking and financial services at five locations between June 28 and Aug 26, 2015. —Bernama