KUALA LUMPUR (Jan 3): The Sessions Court here on Monday (Jan 3) postponed former Sabah infrastructure development minister Datuk Peter Anthony’s forgery trial hearing at the request of the defence.

Peter was slated to enter his defence on Monday and testify before Sessions Court Judge Azura Alwi.

However, Peter was absent from the proceedings as the defence requested a postponement of the trial grounded on the fact that the accused had appointed a new legal counsel.

Peter had appointed lawyer S Devanandan to replace Munawar Kabir Mohd Zainal Abidin who represented him in the case. He is also represented by lawyer Datuk D Senthinathan.

Deputy Public Prosecutor Wan Shaharuddin Wan Ladin told the court that the prosecution had no qualms about the postponement of the trial, which followed with Judge Azura allowing the postponement.

On another note, Devanandan informed the court that a total of four defence witnesses will be called in to testify. 

Meanwhile, Wan Shaharuddin requested that the defence hand over witness statements a week before the respective witnesses testify.

To this, the newly appointed defence counsel replied that the defence would abide by this if they choose to use witness statements.

Additionally, Wan Shaharuddin reminded the court that the defence should have provided their statement of defence on Monday pursuant to the agreement they made before the court on Dec 14.

In response, Devanandan told the court that he would hand the accused’s statement of defence in a week’s time as he had not even met Peter yet nor received instruction from the former Sabah executive councillor (exco).

“I will hand over the statement of defence in a week’s time. In fact, I have not even met the accused person. I am only meeting him this week. 

“Only after getting full instructions I can prepare his statement of defence. I need to get full instructions from the client,” he explained.

With the trial’s postponement, Peter is now slated to enter his defence on Feb 9. The court has fixed four additional dates in February, allocated for Peter’s defence.

On Dec 14, Judge Azura ordered the former Sabah exco to enter his defence after the prosecution succeeded in proving a prima facie case against him.

Peter, 50, as the managing director of Asli Jati Sdn Bhd, is charged with forging a letter from the Universiti Malaysia Sabah deputy vice-chancellor’s office dated June 9, 2014.

He is accused of inserting a false statement in the title of the letter with the intention of using it to deceive the office of the principal private secretary to the prime minister at the Perdana Putra building in Putrajaya between June 13 and Aug 21, 2014.

He is being charged under Section 468 of the Penal Code, which carries a maximum jail term of seven years and a fine if convicted.