Y Suppiah, 67, was convicted by the High Court in 2017. The Court of Appeal dismissed his appeal last year.

A five-member bench, chaired by Chief Justice Tengku Maimun Tuan Mat, said the conviction was unsafe to be sustained.

“The trial court did not consider the appellant’s cautioned statement as a defence,” she said.

Tengku Maimun said there was also no evidence that the prosecution had offered their witnesses when Suppiah’s defence was called.

She said there was a serious misdirection by the trial judge.

Others on the bench were Chief Judge of Malaya Azahar Mohamed, Chief Judge of Sabah and Sarawak David Wong Dak Wah, Federal Court judges Abang Iskandar Abang Hashim and Vernon Ong Lam Keat.

Suppiah was charged with trafficking 4.8kg of cannabis at a roadside on Jalan Besar Klang-Banting on May 4, 2015.

The prosecution said Suppiah had voluntarily handed over the drugs in a plastic bag hidden in his car boot to a police officer.

However, lawyer Afifudin Ahmad Hafifi said his client’s version was that the police themselves discovered the drugs.

“The appellant’s version was in his cautioned statement but the trial judge did not consider this when defence was called,” he said.

Afifudin said there was no evidence placed on record that the prosecution offered their witnesses when the trial court ordered for Suppiah’s defence.

“This is a serious breach of procedural requirement under the law,” he added.

Deputy public prosecutor Asmah Musa said the conviction was safe as the trial judge did not err in fact and law when he merely said that he had considered the “the entire evidence” even though he explicitly did not mention about the cautioned statement.