KUALA LUMPUR: The Sessions Court here today dismissed applications by two former directors of confectionery firm Silver Bird Group Bhd to nullify their charges of providing false information to authorities.
Judge Hasbullah Adam said the facts of the current charges against Ching Siew Cheong and Tan Han Kook under Section 369(b)(B) of the Capital Markets and Services Act were different from their previous criminal case.
The men were acquitted by the Court of Appeal in June on a charge of cheating a bank of RM67.4 million by using forged documents.
Tan and Ching argued that since the appeals court had established that they had no knowledge of the forged documents, the present charges under Section 369(b)(B) should be struck out.
However, Hasbullah said the finding of facts in the first cheating case “is not binding before me”.
“In the current case, both accused are standing trial over an offence where they were said to furnish false information to Bursa Malaysia,” he said.
He said Tan and Ching could still put forward their defence and contest the evidence presented before the court on the Capital Markets and Services Act charges.
“Their rights will not be prejudiced,” the judge added.
The trial will resume on Dec 16 and 17.
Deputy public prosecutor Mohd Hafiz Yusoff told the court the prosecution will call five or six more witnesses before it closes its case.
Teh See Khoon and N Sivananthan appeared for Tan and Ching, respectively.
Met after today’s proceedings, Hafiz said 34 witnesses had testified since the trial began on Sept 7, 2016.
Tan and Ching were slapped with seven and eight counts, respectively, for furnishing false statements relating to the revenue of Silver Bird in 2010 and 2011 to Bursa Malaysia.
If convicted, both are liable to imprisonment for a term not exceeding 10 years and a fine not exceeding RM3 million.