Last Friday, former sessions court judge Zunaidah Mohd Idris was produced in the Raub sessions court where she had sat as presiding judge from 2004 to 2005 and charged with falsifying a document written by magistrate Nurul Mardhiah Redza in relation to a drug case in the magistrate’s court.
Zunaidah, 48, pleaded not guilty to committing the offence in her chambers on Sept. 14, 2005.
If convicted, Zunaidah can be sentenced to seven years’ jail and fined. She was released on RM2,000 bail and the hearing fixed for July 8.
Without getting into the merits of the charge, the prosecution handling of the case has raised questions.
Firstly, deputy public prosecutor Mohamad Hanafiah Zakaria told the court the prosecution would be conducted by prosecution division head of the Attorney-General’s Chambers Datuk Mohd Yusof Zainal Abiden.
This has raised eyebrows and question why the head of the Attorney-General’s Chambers is conducting the prosecution of this comparatively minor case when neither he nor the Attorney-General is conducting the prosecution in the high-profile Mongolian Altantunya Shariibuu murder trial with its far reaching political and good governance implications. Continue reading “Questions about the charging of ex-sessions judge for falsifying document”