Company director held under Sosma for sabotage of Selangor water services granted RM50,000 bail

A company director being held under the Security Offences (Special Measures) Act (Sosma) 2012 on a charge of committing sabotage on water services in Selangor was granted bail of RM50,000 by the Court of Appeal today.

Lim Kian Aik was granted bail pending his trial at the High Court, following a 2-1 majority decision by the Court of Appeal panel led by Azizah Nawawi, who sat with Supang Lian and Ghazali Cha.

While Ghazali dissented, Azizah and Supang allowed Lim’s application for bail under Section 13(2) (c) of Sosma which provides that bail can be given to an accused who is ill.

Azizah said Lim was confirmed to be suffering from acute coronary syndrome and that a medical officer from the clinic in the Sungai Buloh prison was of the opinion that he was at high risk of suffering a heart attack.

She allowed Lim, 43, to be released on RM50,000 bail with two sureties and ordered him to surrender his travel documents to the court, as well as to report to the nearest police station once a week.

On Nov 23 last year, Lim and contractor R Nathan pleaded not guilty in the Selayang Sessions Court to intentionally committing sabotage to disrupt water services in Selangor at No. 32, Jalan Velox 2, Taman Velox, Rawang, Gombak between Nov 2 and 10.

The two men also face five other charges under the Environmental Quality Act and the Water Services Industry Act.

Since the procedural law for Section 124K of the Penal Code is under Sosma, the prosecution did not offer bail to both men.

The charge under Section 124K, read together with Section 34 of the same code, provides for life imprisonment upon conviction.

In today’s proceeding in the Court of Appeal, Lim’s counsel Wan Kok Cheong submitted to the court that his client, who has been in Sungai Buloh prison for almost six months, was suffering from acute coronary syndrome and had to be given access to doctors and regular medication.

Wan also produced a medical report by the National Heart Institute on Lim’s condition.

He said Lim’s case had been transferred to the Kuala Lumpur High Court and the court had fixed April 23 for case management.

Deputy public prosecutor Muhammad Azmi Mashud, assisted by deputy public prosecutor Mohd Zain Ibrahim, argued that the bail application should be filed at the Kuala Lumpur High Court as the case had been transferred to that court.

Wan told reporters that Lim’s family would post the bail.