PUTRAJAYA: The Court of Appeal here today upheld a RM6,000 fine imposed on a former police constable for possession of passports and identification cards (IC) belonging to several individuals.
A three-member bench comprising Justices Datuk Hadhariah Syed Ismail, Datuk Azman Abdullah and Datuk Azmi Ariffin dismissed S. Verappan’s appeal and upheld the High Court’s decision that convicted and fined him for the offences.
On the first charge, Verappan, 54, was found guilty by the High Court of keeping and possessing passports belonging to four Indonesian individuals without reasonable justification at Persiaran Perdana, Sri Damansara, Petaling Jaya district, Selangor, at 2.30 pm on May 20, 2016.
He was also found guilty of keeping and possessing ICs belonging to five Malaysians without reasonable justification at the same place, time and day.
Verappan was initially acquitted and discharged by the Magistrate’s Court on Dec 29, 2017 without being called to enter his defence, but on Aug 7, 2019, the High Court allowed the prosecution’s appeal for the matter to be sent back to the Magistrate’s Court for Verappan to enter his defence.
On June 2, 2020, the Magistrate Court acquitted and discharged him at the end of the defence case.
On Oct 21, 2021, the High Court overturned the Magistrate’s Court decision and found Verappan guilty of the offences and fined him RM3,000, in default four months in jail, for each charge.
This prompted him to appeal to the Court of Appeal.
In the appeal today, Verappan’s lawyer M.Mathavan submitted that the passports and identification cards kept by his client were old documents belonging to suspects who fled when they were inspected. The documents were obtained while Verappan was working at the narcotics division.
He sought the court to restore the Magistrate’s Court’s decision in acquitting and discharging his client.
In his defence, Verappan also said that there was no Standard Operating Procedure (SOP) by the Royal Malaysia Police (PDRM) regarding the handling of old documents, and it is not an offence to keep or possess such documents.
Deputy public prosecutor Atiqah Abdul Karim @ Husaini urged the court to reject Verappan’s appeal saying that he (Verappan), who was a police officer assigned as supervisor at the logistics division when he was arrested, did not have the authority to possess those documents and he also failed to give reasonable grounds for having the documents.
She said there are guidelines pertaining to keeping and disposing of seized items held by enforcement authorities.
Verappan paid the fine.-Bernama
