KUALA LUMPUR: Former Sabah Infrastructure Development Minister Datuk Peter Anthony instructed the Sessions Court right here on Wednesday (Feb 9) {that a} good friend of his had by no means used the computer in his workplace to draft a supporting letter for a programs upkeep contract at Universiti Malaysia Sabah (UMS).
Anthony, 51, mentioned prosecution witness Mohd Shukur Mohd Din’s testimony that such a factor had occurred was not true as he (Mohd Shukur) had by no means as soon as stepped into his workplace positioned at Plaza Damai in Kota Kinabalu for that function.
“The witness’ (Mohd Shukur) testimony that he had returned to my workplace to gather a printed copy of the letter can be a lie,” he mentioned throughout examination-in-chief by counsel S. Devanandan on the primary day of his defence trial on prices of falsifying a letter for a Mechanical and Electrical (M&E) system upkeep and companies contract at UMS in 2014.
Anthony mentioned he was hardly ever in his workplace and there was just one computer that his secretary usually makes use of within the workplace on a day by day foundation.
Questioned if Devanandan had ever knowledgeable him of Mohd Shukur’s presence in his workplace, Anthony replied: “Never”.
During submissions within the prosecution’s case, Deputy Public Prosecutor Datuk Wan Shaharuddin Wan Ladin instructed the courtroom that based mostly on Mohd Shukur’s testimony, Anthony had falsified the doc as he had typed the title on the letter after Mohd Shukur left the draft headline of the supporting letter clean, solely to search out the subsequent day that it had been stuffed with a date, title and content material.
In addition, Anthony instructed the courtroom that he didn’t have the authority to instruct any prime UMS officer to arrange a supporting letter concerning the contract on the college.
The trial earlier than Judge Azura Alwi continues on Thursday (Feb 10).
On Dec 14 final 12 months, the Sessions Court ordered Anthony to enter his defence on the cost, after discovering that the prosecution had succeeded in proving a prima facie case towards him.
Anthony was charged because the managing director of Syarikat Asli Jati with having falsified a letter from the workplace of UMS deputy vice-chancellor dated June 9, 2014, by inserting a false assertion with intention to cheat.
The offence was allegedly dedicated on the workplace of the Prime Minister’s Principal Private Secretary on the Federal Government Administrative Centre, Putrajaya, between June 13 and Aug 21, 2014. – Bernama
