An unbiased judge would throw out Siyad Qasim’s case: Lawyer
The state submitted a confidential document described as evidence that Siyad had bribed the Supreme Court justices
Siyad Qasim
After the state’s admission on Sunday that it does not have the necessary evidence implicating Siyad Qasim on the bribery charge, an unbiased judge would have released him and thrown out his case, said Siyad’s attorney Mahfooz Saeed.
Siyad Qasim is being charged with bribing Supreme Court Chief Justice Abdulla Saeed and Justice Ali Hameed in order to get his father, Jumhoree Party leader Qasim Ibrahim’s prison conviction annulled.
At the hearing on Sunday, the state submitted confidential documents pertaining to Siyad’s guilt. Document 17 was described as evidence which contained information of transactions indicating that Siyad had used his company to reserve lakefront villas in Cyberjaya for the justices’ children.
After the defense attorney asked how many pages the document contained, the state prosecutor admitted that they have only received information that the evidence exists and have not received the evidence itself.
In his blog, attorney Mahfooz cited article 80 of the criminal procedure act saying that criminal charges can only be raised after all the necessary requirements are fulfilled. Mahloof also cited article 83(a) saying that the case can only be submitted to court along with all the necessary evidence.
He said that the discrepancies between what the state says and what their confidential documents contain will create distrust and that he questions the validity of the other cases based on confidential documents.
