Sreesanthan, a seasoned
legal practitioner who was called to the Malaysian Bar in 1988, has laid claim
to his right for a fair trial and requested that the charges against him be
dismissed or struck out as being void in law.
His affadavit reasoned that
the Securities Commission has very wide powers of investigation which should be
used to get all relevant information for the fair trial of the accused and not
just information that is favourable to the prosecution.
The Securities Commission has charged him with seven
counts of insider trading involving equities in Sime Darby, UEM, VADS and
Maxis.
At case management today Sreesanthan requested the
following orders:
(i) That
the five charges under the Securities Industry Act 1983 be dismissed or struck
out as the charges are under a repealed law and therefore void in law;
(ii) That
all the seven charges be dismissed or struck out as being instituted under a
consent for prosecution dated 18 July 2012 for each charge that is invalid,
null and void;
(iii) That
various questions of constitutional law relating to the federal constitution,
the Securities Commission Act 1993, the Securities Industry Act 1983 (repealed)
and the Criminal Procedure Code be referred to the High Court for determination
and if the High Court answers all or any of the questions in the affirmative,
the institution of this entire prosecution would be declared as bad in law and
should be struck out;
(iv) That
a summons be issued to the Securities Commission and or its officers to produce
and deliver all statements, documents and any form of evidence that the
prosecution intends to rely on, in connection with the investigation.
Dato’ Sreesanthan is represented by counsel Dato’
Cyrus Das, Dato’ Haji Sulaiman Abdullah, Datuk Tan Hock Chuan, Dato’ Jerald Gomez,
Steven Thiru, Wong Kian Keong, David Mathew and Suzalena Salleh.
The Star has published an article on the court case: “Court case of high-flyer corporate lawyer begins”
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