The Court of Appeal has granted two former Radio Television Brunei (RTB) employees leave to pursue a criminal reference on legal issues arising from an earlier High Court decision that quashed their acquittals and ordered a retrial on corruption charges.
In a judgment delivered on June 18, Chief Justice Dato Seri Paduka Steven Chong, Justices of Appeal Michael Lunn and Sir Peter Gross ruled that the case raises points of law that are desirable in the public interest to be determined by the Court of Appeal.
The applicants, Haji Muhammad Suffian bin Haji Bungsu and Jonathan Kho Chew Sen, were acquitted by the Chief Magistrate in March 2025 of offences under the Prevention of Corruption Act relating to the alleged acceptance and giving of a Mercedes-Benz motor car. The acquittals were later overturned on appeal by the High Court, which ordered a retrial after finding the trial court had misdirected itself on the statutory presumption under Section 25 of the Prevention of Corruption Act.
Represented by Roy Prabhakaran and Kamal Shaari of Messrs Yusof Halim & Partners, the applicants sought permission to file a criminal reference out of time, arguing that the High Court should have considered whether the trial court’s legal error had resulted in a miscarriage or failure of justice before setting aside the acquittals and ordering a retrial.
Deputy Public Prosecutor Nurul Fitri Kiprawi opposed the application, submitting that it was filed outside the statutory time limit and that the proposed questions amounted to an appeal rather than issues of law of public interest.
Although the Court expressed reservations over the delay in filing the application, it held that the legal issues identified were sufficiently important to warrant determination by the Court of Appeal.
The Court observed that the Criminal Procedure Code contains “miscarriage of justice” provisions for certain appeals to the Court of Appeal but not expressly for appeals from the Magistrate’s Court to the High Court, raising an important question on the proper approach appellate judges should take when overturning acquittals.
Leave was therefore granted for the criminal reference to proceed.
Given that the alleged offences date back about 12 years, the Court directed that the matter be heard at the next sitting of the Court of Appeal and said further directions would be issued on the legal questions to be addressed by the parties.