KUALA LUMPUR (Aug 17): The Kuala Lumpur High Court on Wednesday (Aug 17) found former Umno Supreme Council member Datuk Lokman Noor Adam in contempt of court but let him off with a final warning after accepting his “unreserved” apology.

Judge Datuk Collin Lawrence Sequerah accepted the apology by Lokman after finding him in contempt of court for insulting an officer of the court and for saying that the legal system is not fair. Lokman had made the comments while in the public gallery during the corruption trial of Umno President Datuk Seri Dr Ahmad Zahid Hamidi.

Sequerah made the finding as per Order 52(2A) of the Rules of Court 2012. He then offered Lokman the option to either purge his contempt or to have the judge proceed to sentencing.

“Since you are already a contemnor, you either purge it or I will give out the punishment now,” Sequerah told Lokman.

Order 52(3) says: “Where such person has purged his contempt by tendering his unreserved apology to the court and the judge considers the contempt to be not of a serious nature, the judge may excuse such person and no further action shall be taken against him.”

Lokman chose to purge his contempt and apologised to the court, guided by his lawyer K Balaguru.

“I apologise unreservedly and from the bottom of my heart (suci hati) to the court and all personnel involved. Thank you. And I promise that I will make sure this doesn’t happen again. I promise to follow the rules of the court in any court I appear in henceforth,” Lokman said.

Sequerah the let him off with a warning and ruled that Lokman has purged himself of his contempt.

“The contemnor has purged his contempt. Court issues a final warning that this should not repeat itself. And therefore we excuse the contemnor and no further action be taken against him,” the judge said.

The incident that sparked a show cause letter revolved around Lokman's use of a handphone during the proceedings on June 30. Lokman, who contended that he was taking notes during the trial, was subsequently reprimanded by a court police officer.