Former Sabah minister Peter Anthony found guilty of forgery

The Kuala Lumpur Sessions Court today found former Sabah minister Peter Anthony guilty of falsifying a document for contract work at Universiti Malaysia Sabah.

Judge Azura Alwi read out the decision after ruling that the prosecution had proven its case beyond reasonable doubt.

Anthony was fined RM50,000 and sentenced to three years in jail. Azura ordered Anthony, the former Sabah infrastructure development minister, to serve a 15-month jail sentence if he failed to pay the fine.

However, she allowed him a stay of execution of the jail sentence pending his appeal at the High Court.

Anthony, as the managing director of Syarikat Asli Jati, was charged with falsifying a letter from the office of the Universiti Malaysia Sabah deputy vice-chancellor dated June 9, 2014 by inserting a false statement with the intention of being used for fraudulent purposes.

The former Warisan vice-president was accused of comitting the offence at the office of the principal private secretary to the prime minister at the Perdana Putra building in Putrajaya between June 13 and Aug 21, 2014.

The charge was framed under Section 468 of the Penal Code, which carries a maximum jail term of seven years and a fine upon conviction.

According to Bernama, Azura said the evidence presented during the trial showed that Anthony’s company had conducted the first phase of the maintenance work at UMS, a matter which was not denied by the defence.

“There is enough evidence that the accused deceived the third, eighth and ninth prosecution witnesses by obscuring their thoughts on the smart partnership between UMS’ wholly-owned subsidiary, Ulink Property Sdn Bhd and Anthony’s company, Asli Jati,” she was reported as saying.

The witnesses were former UMS deputy vice-chancellor (academic and international affairs) Shariff Abdul Kadir S Omang, former Ulink Property Sdn Bhd chairman Abdullah Mohd Said and Anthony’s friend Mohd Shukur Mohd Din.

The prosecution was conducted by deputy public prosecutor Wan Shaharuddin Wan Ladin with Haresh Prakash Somiah and Francine Cheryl Rajendram, while Anthony was represented by counsel S Devanandan and D Senthinathan.