This follows a Court of Appeal ruling today to dismiss the government’s appeal against the High Court decision last year to offer bail to the two pending the outcome of their trial.
A three-man bench chaired by Tengku Maimun Tuan Mat said the charge under the Penal Code was not a security offence for the authorities to rely on Security Offences (Special Measures) Act 2012 (Sosma) procedures.
“Parliament could not have intended the charge faced by the two to be a security offence to invoke Sosma,” she said of the unanimous ruling.
Sosma procedures allow accused persons to be denied bail while a trial was on and they could still be detained if the prosecution was appealing.
Khairuddin was seen hugging Mathhias while some members of the public clapped soon after Tengku Maimun delivered the decision.
Lawyer Mohamed Haniff Khatri Abdulla, representing Khairuddin, told reporters that the case would be mentioned before Sessions Court judge Shamsuddin Abdullah in Kuala Lumpur tomorrow.
“The court will give direction to lawyers and probably fix trial dates,” he said.
Counsel Zainur Zakaria, representing Matthias said Article 149 of the Federal Constitution allowed Parliament to enact laws to detain persons without bail if they were prejudicial to the maintenance or the functioning of any supply or service to the public.
He said, as such Sosma could not be used on Khairuddin and Matthias as the offence in the Penal Code was not a security offence.
Khairuddin and Chang were jointly charged under Section 124L of the Penal Code for sabotaging the nation’s banking and financial services following reports made against 1MDB with authorities in France, Hong Kong, Singapore, the United Kingdom and Switzerland.
Zainur said today’s ruling also affirmed the High Court ruling that only procedures under the Evidence Act and Criminal Procedure Code could be applied for the offence faced by the two.
On Nov 18 last year, High Court judge Mohd Azman Husin found that the sabotage charge against Khairuddin and his counsel Matthias did not fall under Sosma.
The judge then granted them bail at RM10,000 each with a single surety pending the outcome of their trial in the Sessions Court.
Deputy public prosecutor Awang Armadajaya Awang Mahmud said he would brief his superiors on whether to appeal to the Federal Court.