MACC drops appeal against lawyer Rosli Dahlan
UPDATED @ 07:08:06 PM 02-08-2012
Rosli claimed of mischief on the MACC’s part in only withdrawing the appeal at the last minute. — File picKUALA LUMPUR, Aug 2 — The Malaysian Anti-Corruption Agency (MACC) today withdrew its appeal against a 2010 Sessions Court decision to acquit prominent lawyer Rosli Dahlan of a charge of not disclosing his assets.
In the High Court here, Justice Mohd Azman Husin was today told by the MACC that the prosecution was retracting the appeal, according to a report in The Star Online.
“They had all the time to withdraw (the appeal), why did they only do it at the last minute?” Rosli told The Malaysian Insider today.
As he had yesterday filed court documents to challenge the appeal, Rosli claimed that the late withdrawal was to make him “feel miserable and spend legal costs”.
He also alleged that the MACC had formerly pursued the appeal to “force” him to withdraw his RM50 million civil suit against the anti-graft body.
He further said: “If you want to appeal, appeal because someone committed an offence, not because you want to use it as a bargaining chip.”
Rosli was previously charged in 2007 with failure to comply with an MACC notice to declare his assets, but Sessions Court judge Abu Bakar Katar had on December 20, 2010 declared that he was not guilty.
Abu Bakar had said that the prosecution had failed to prove its case against Rosli, reported The Star.
He had also said prosecution had then failed to prove that Rosli was an associate of Datuk Ramli Yusuff, a former director of the Bukit Aman Commercial Crime Investigation Department.
Rosli had acted as a lawyer for Ramli.
