Foul!

I've been receiving calls and messages asking me what has happened to the case involving a former Youth and Sports Ministry official, Otman Arshad. The trial is ongoing. A quick check online revealed the last article pertaining this trial was published in April 2019 . Bernama reported that Otman failed in his bid to prevent Sessions Court Judge Azura Alwi from hearing his case on grounds of possible bias. However, it is understood that the Court of Appeal agreed with the defence team and that the case was transferred to another judge. The prosecution has called over 60 witnesses with a handful more remaining. The trial is scheduled to resume next month. In April 2016 , Otman, who once served as the ministry's finance division under-secretary, and three company directors were charged in three separate Sessions Courts with 191 counts of money laundering involving some RM16.6 million. Otman, Abdul Ghafar Abdurahiman, his wife Siti Rohana Hussien, and Halmi Khalid...

As published in Malay Mail today Being Frank By Frankie D’Cruz WHEN young offenders are caned in court in front of the public gallery, including newsmen, the people’s capacity for outrage better be inexhaustible. The nastiness of courtroom whipping reflects one of several indecorous challenges to the legal system that have brought dismay about questionable sentencing. While disciplinary action deserves praise, caning young men in court is a cosmetic step towards rehabilitation — one that would probably harden a publicly-shamed teenager. Law aside, we are not meant to hurt our children in this manner. The courts did. This week, two young men aged 19 and 20 received seven and eight strokes of the rotan respectively for gang robbery at a Sessions Court in Kuala Lumpur. Last week, an 18-year-old was whipped six times at a magistrate’s court in Ipoh for a break-in offence. The bench appears to have pushed rather hastily into the book, showing no sign of bein...

As published in Malay Mail today By Dr Amar-Singh HSS A paediatrician, who was recently  compelled to witness the caning of an 18-year-old in court, relives the trauma: LAST week I experienced one of the darkest days of my life as a paediatrician. I have been through tough times but none as despairing as my last experience. I have helped parents whose children died. I have spent sleepless nights worrying over ill children. I have agonised with teenagers on struggles with parents and peers. I have worked with abused children. But I have never before been party to state approved, legal physical punishment of children. I accepted an unusual written legal request through my hospital director from a court magistrate. We were asked to send a doctor to ‘witness’ the whipping of a child in court. We were requested by the court to certify that this child was in a fit state of health to undergo the caning. In writing about it, it not my intention to question the decision ...

 Dread going to the lawyers for a simple sales-and-purchase agreement? Ever wish you could divorce your spouse from the comfort of your living room? If so, then you’re in luck. A lawyer is attempting to make his profession “obsolete” — in certain matters — by developing template agreements and apps that people can use themselves instead of relying on lawyers to handle property purchases, divorces, or the preparation of wills. Edmund Bon (pic) explained that documents such as sales and purchase (S&P) agreements for property purchases, uncontested wills and probate, accident claims, divorce petitions as well as mitigation and bail in criminal cases are not as complicated as imagined. In fact, he said, these are generally standardised to such an extent that they that can be prepared by the general public once they have access to the documents’ framework. “It’s do-it-yourself law,” Bon told Malay Mail Online in a recent interview. Read the full article here . Meanwhile, Chie...

Haresh Says as published in The Malay Mail today. Does the act of signing a consent form prior to surgery automatically absolves the liability of a doctor or medical institution? More importantly, is the consent of a spouse also required in such circumstances? Two recent cases in the High Court — Gurmit Kaur Jaswant Singh v Tung Shin Hospital & Anor, and Abdul Razak Datuk Abu Samah v Raja Badrul Hisham Raja Zezeman Shah & Ors — come to mind. While the facts in both cases differ, the learned judges looked into the duty of care owed to the patients, and if there was a need to explain the nature of the risks to the next of kin. It also looked at the dependence of the patients — despite being of right sounding mind — on their spouses. In the case of Gurmit Kaur, the plaintiff was admitted for the removal of a fibroid. She signed a consent form, but claimed her husband was not called in for the signing. In the follow-up appointment, the plaintiff was shocked to le...