Judge chides Muhsin for submitting an application to postpone the case two days before the hearing today because his lawyer was unable to make it.
The Penang High Court today set Oct 12 to hear an application by Facebook account holder Muhsin Abdul Latif for a review of the court’s decision in acquitting and discharging former Penang Chief Minister Lim Guan Eng and businesswoman Phang Li Koon on corruption charges involving the purchase of a bungalow at below the market value.
Judge Datuk Hadhariah Syed Ismail fixed the date after Muhsin, also known as ‘Mamu Parpu’, informed the court that his lawyer, Gunamalar Joorindajn, was not able to attend today’s proceeding.
“The applicant (Muhsin) had just sent a letter to the court to inform that today’s hearing date was not suitable and requested the court to fix a new date after Oct 9.
“I could have just thrown out this application in only five minutes, without having to postpone (the hearing) to another date had the applicant not submitted a new letter which contents were not the same as before (in previous letter).
“If the court does not postpone, it will raise issues and said the court is unfair for not doing so. Therefore, the court sets this Oct 12 to hear the application and the case will proceed if the lawyer still fails to attend,” he said.
Muhsin filed the application in the middle of last month, asking for the court to replace the acquittal with a discharge not amounting to an acquittal.
His grounds for the application was that Lim allegedly had a close relationship with the Attorney General which is a conflict of interest.
Later, outside the courtroom, Muhsin said he is running short of funds to cover the costs of the application.
“I have made an appeal in my social media for donations as I need at least RM20,000 to cover the costs of this case,” he said.
He stressed that he wanted his application to be heard in court as he wanted justice to be served.