This article first appeared in The Edge Financial Daily on November 8, 2019

KUALA LUMPUR: The Sessions Court yesterday rejected Transmile Group Bhd founder and former chief executive officer Gan Boon Aun’s guilty plea in the air-freight company’s accounting scandal more than 10 years ago.

Judge Hasbullah Adam rejected the plea as it was done with certain repudiations of the facts of the case.

Noting that the alternative charge has been read to Gan and that he pleaded guilty to it, Hasbullah said the facts of the case were significant to the charge.

He explained three aspects of a guilty plea to make sure Gan understood the nature and consequences of his plea.

He said when an accused pleads guilty to a charge:

1. There will be no further full trial of the case;

2. The accused will be convicted for the charge and can be sentenced to punishment according to the law. In Gan’s case, he can be punished with a fine of up to RM3 million or maximum imprisonment of 10 years, or both, and;

3. After being convicted by the court, the accused may only appeal against the sentence, but not against the conviction.

“The prosecution then presented the facts of the case consisting of 25 paragraphs. The accused disagreed with a number of paragraphs, namely paragraphs 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 18, 20, 21, 22 and 23,” the judge said.

“The principal is that the guilty plea must be completely unreserved, unqualified and unequivocal. Although it is not necessary that the accused admits or agrees with every item of the facts of the case presented by the prosecution, I find that the disagreements with several paragraphs of the facts of the case, especially paragraphs 12, 13, 14 and 15, tantamount to reservation and qualification.

“So the plea of guilty by the accused could not be accepted,” added Hasbullah.

On Wednesday, Gan pleaded guilty to the alternative charge of being the director of Transmile when the company, with intent to deceive, furnished a misleading statement to Bursa Malaysia in 2006.

However, he denied certain facts of the case presented by the prosecution.

His denial basically absolves him from the responsibility of knowing the fact that there were untrue statements and irregular transactions prior to Transmile reporting its quarterly results to Bursa.

As such, Hasbullah yesterday ruled Gan’s guilty plea to be insufficient, and ordered the trial to continue on Nov 25.

The alternative charge is on Transmile and not on Gan individually. Gan is charged with the alternative charge as a director acting on behalf of the company.

In contrast, the initial principal charge was on him individually for abetting Transmile in making those misleading statements, but Gan has been acquitted from that charge.