The Shah Alam High Court today cleared Attorney-General Tommy Thomas of contempt of court in last year’s inquest into the death of firefighter Muhammad Adib Mohd Kassim.
The High Court allowed an appeal by Thomas to set aside a committal proceeding filed against him by Adib’s father.
Judge Datuk Meor Hashimi Abdul Hamid, in his judgment, said the Coroner’s Court had erred in allowing the application by Mohd Kassim Abdul Hamid to initiate committal proceeding against the AG.
He said I found the respondent to have selectively disclosed only facts which supported his contempt application against Thomas.
Further, the judge said, the respondent had also failed to draw the coroner’s attention to the entirety of Thomas’ media statement dated May 28 last year.
The coroner only took into account certain paragraphs in the media statement, especially regarding the role of lawyer Syazlin Mansor, who at that time was holding a watching brief for the Ministry of Housing and Local Government, the Fire and Rescue Department and Adib’s family, he added.
“This court is of the view that the appellant’s appeal has merit and will be allowed,” Meor said at the end of his judgment.
Kassim filed an ex-parte application for a committal order against the AG on July 16 last year for allegedly insulting the court through the filing of an affidavit by the AG’s Chambers on April 3 on the firefighter’s death.
The affidavit was filed while the inquest into the cause of Adib’s death was still underway. The inquest which involved 41 days of hearings, began on February 11 last year and came to a close on July 24.
Lawyer Mohamed Haniff Khatri Abdulla, representing Kassim, when met by reporters later, said his client would appeal against today’s decision.
Lawyers Ambiga Sreenevasan, Zainur Zakaria and Senior Federal Counsel S Narkunavathy represented Thomas.