Kota Kinabalu: An arrest warrant has been issued for a Star (Parti Solidariti Tanah Airku) politician by the Court of Appeal here Tuesday after he failed to attend an appeal hearing regarding his acquittal from a charge of misappropriation of property.
Justices Datuk Supang Lian, who sat with Datuk Collin Lawrence Sequerah and Datuk Wong Kian Kheong issued the warrant of arrest against Phillip Among @ Daniel Deil Fidelis, 55, following an application by the prosecution as appellant following the respondent’s absence in the court.
Philip’s counsel applied for another date, informing the court that Phillip was on medical leave related to gallstones and was not fit to attend court, having been advised by a doctor to rest.
The prosecution, however, objected to the application, stating that they were ready to proceed with the appeal and requested a warrant for arrest to be issued, as the respondent had frequently used a medical certificate to be absent from court in the past, which the counsel denied, arguing that it was the respondent’s first time submitting a medical certificate.
SPONSORED CONTENT Sinyi Group Founder, Chou Chun-Chi, Wins 2024 Asia Pacific Enterprise Award and Expands Sustainable Tourism Ventures in Sabah, Malaysia Kota Kinabalu: The 2024 Asia Pacific Enterprise Awards, hosted by Enterprise Asia, aims to recognize the most outstanding business leaders and organizations in the Asia-Pacific region. Read more The court also directed the doctor attending to Phillip to appear in court to explain his diagnosis of him at the afternoon session.
Meanwhile, the court scheduled the afternoon session today (Sept 25) for the doctor and Philip to attend the court after his counsel informed the court that the doctor was conducting an operation at a hospital and that Philip could still not be reached by phone.
On March 20, the Court of Appeal granted the prosecution’s application to reinstate its appeal against Phillip’s acquittal from a charge of misappropriation of property, after the case was struck out by the same court nine years ago.
On Sept 6, 2013, Phillip was found guilty and convicted by the Sessions Court here of dishonestly misappropriating Merbau wood worth RM399,388 belonging to a businessman in India, Chandulal Manji, at 6.52pm on June 25, 2008 at the MISC office in Wisma Takada in Jalan Gaya here.
Phillip was then sentenced to 12 months’ jail, one stroke of the cane and fined RM100,000 or 18 months’ jail for the offence under Section 403 of the Penal Code, which carries a jail term of between six months and five years and whipping and liability of a fine on conviction.
However, on April 22, 2014 the High Court quashed his conviction and sentence following his appeal against the Sessions Court’s decision.
The prosecution then filed an appeal to the Court of Appeal against the High Court’s decision to reverse the conviction and sentence imposed on Phillip.
On Nov 16, 2015, the Court of Appeal struck out the appeal by the prosecution after being informed that they were unable to serve the notice of hearing to Phillip, despite three attempts of doing so in that year.
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