KUALA LUMPUR: The High Court today set six days beginning Sept 18 for an inquiry to determine whether a man sentenced to 13 years in prison for cheating and forging documents is businessman Datuk Paiman Shakimon.
Judge Datuk Muhammad Jamil Hussin set the date after Deputy Public Prosecutor Mohd Ashrof Adrin Kamarul informed that the parties agreed to proceed with the inquiry process.
“The court has set the dates for the inquiry from Sept 18 to 20; Sept 26 and 27 as well as Sept 30 at 9 am. Documents related to the case must be submitted to the parties involved before the inquiry proceedings,“ he said during mention of the case.
Mohd Ashrof Adrin said the prosecution would call between 10 and 15 witnesses, while lawyer Datuk Mohamad Hanafiah Zakaria, representing Aldrin Pratama Widjaja (charged by the prosecution as Paiman), would call one.
On April 19, 2011, Paiman was sentenced to 26 years in prison by the Sessions Court after finding him guilty of cheating and forging documents for a sum of RM12 million belonging to two other Datuks in an investment fraud case between 2005 and 2006.
Paiman needed to serve only 13 years in prison as Judge Datuk Jagjit Singh Bant Singh ordered the sentences to run concurrently.
He then filed for leave to appeal against the Sessions Court conviction and 13-year prison sentence.
However, on July 20, 2012, when his leave for appeal came up for hearing at the High Court, the man absconded, resulting in the court issuing an arrest warrant and a warrant of imprisonment against him the same year.
In 2021, Paiman, 65, was apprehended by the police when it was discovered that he had entered Malaysia using an Indonesian passport under the name of Aldrin Pratama Widjaja.
A check of his fingerprint under the biometric system at the National Registration Department also indicated that he was indeed Paiman bin Shakimon.
On Dec 2, 2021, the High Court ordered Paiman, who had been in hiding for nine years, to serve a 13-year prison sentence for cheating and falsifying documents after upholding the Sessions Court's verdict.
However, to date, the man is still denying that he is Paiman and in 2023 he filed an appeal at the Court of Appeal against the arrest warrant and imprisonment warrant issued to him.
The Court of Appeal then ordered the High Court to conduct an inquiry to establish the identity of the man.
