PUTRAJAYA: The Court of Appeal today ordered three immigration officers, including a woman, to enter their defence against charges of smuggling nine Bangladeshi migrants at the Kuala Lumpur International Airport (KLIA) in Sepang, seven years ago.
A three-judge panel led by Datuk Ahmad Zaidi Ibrahim overturned a previous High Court ruling to acquit and discharge Maizatul Azwa Mohamad Nasib, 31, Hairulnizam Hasim, 42, and Zamir Hazwan Hamid, 41.
Justice Ahmad Zaidi, presiding with judges Datuk Azman Abdullah and Datuk Azmi Ariffin, said the prosecution succeeded in establishing a prima facie case against the three officers and transferred the case back to the Shah Alam High Court.
He then scheduled Aug 7 for the case mention before a new High Court judge, saying the previous judge had retired.
The court also released the three officers on bail at RM10,000 with one surety each pending mention of their case.
In delivering the court’s unanimous decision, Justice Ahmad Zaidi said the charges against the immigration officers were not defective.
He said the deposition obtained from the migrants can be admitted as evidence as it fulfilled the requirements of Section 61A of the Anti-Trafficking in Persons and anti-Smuggling of Migrants Act 2007.
Justice Ahmad Zaidi also found that the High Court had erred in applying the adverse inference provision under Section 114G of the Evidence Act 1950 against the prosecution for not calling six migrant caretakers to testify.
On July 27, 2021, Shah Alam High Court judge Datuk Mohd Yazid Mustafa acquitted and discharged four immigration officers accused of smuggling the migrants at KLIA between 3 pm and 10 pm on July 17, 2017, and between 10 pm on July 18, 2017, and 8 am the following day.
The prosecution appealed the decision at the Court of Appeal, where the appeal against Haleem Izman Hairuddin, 39, was struck out due to the prosecution’s failure to serve him the notice of appeal.
Haleen Izman had been charged with smuggling two Bangladeshi migrants.
Deputy public prosecutor Mohd Amril Johari appeared for the prosecution while the three officers were represented by lawyer Datuk Rajpal Singh.
