The prosecution has filed an appeal against a Kuala Lumpur Sessions Court decision to reject the testimony of six witnesses recorded in Hong Kong, in the criminal breach of trust trial involving ex-Perwaja Steel managing director Eric Chia.

Lead prosecutor Senior DPP Mohd Yusof Zainal Abiden told malaysiakini that the prosecution had filed for a review of the decision at the Kuala Lumpur High Court yesterday afternoon.

"We are contending that the testimony (recorded before Hong Kong's Eastern Magistrate's Court last August) should have been admitted in the trial and that the lower court had erred in its decision (delivered yesterday)," he said when contacted.

He also said the review is scheduled to be heard before High Court judge Abdul Hamid Embong tomorrow morning.

"However, I am unsure whether the matter will proceed as defence counsel Muhammad Shafee Abdullah has said he will be engaged in another court tomorrow. But officially the review is to be heard tomorrow."

This morning, Sessions Court judge Akhtar Tahir postponed the trial after allowing the prosecution's application for a stay of proceedings pending the disposal of the review. He set May 30 for mention.

Transcript 'disjointed'

Yesterday, he had dismissed the prosecution's application to include the Hong Kong witnesses' testimonies as evidence, stating that the procedures of obtaining evidence had not been properly followed.

Akhtar had said the proceedings in Hong Kong were recorded in the form of an oral transcript, but that there is no provision in Malaysia's Criminal Procedure Code (CPC) to allow the admission of such transcripts.

He said that, under the CPC, recorded evidence must be hand-written, but that the prosecution had indicated that it would be producing an audio recording transcript.

The judge further noted that after perusing the transcript of the audio recording, he found it to be "disjointed and difficult to make any sense out of most of it".

He said the documents from Hong Kong do not meet requirements of the Mutual Assistance in Criminal Matters Act 2002, which provides the legal basis for mutual assistance in criminal investigations and proceedings between governments.

On Aug 25 and 26 last year, Attorney-General Abdul Gani Patail headed a 16-member team to Hong Kong to record statements from six witnesses whose evidence allegedly reveal the 'money trail' in relation to the RM76.4mil mentioned in the charge against Chia.

Chia, 72, is accused of dishonestly authorising payment of the sum to the account of Frilsham Enterprise Incorporated with the American Express Bank Ltd, Hong Kong, for technical assistance provided by Japan's NKK Corporation for Perwaja's plant in Gurun, when in fact, no such payment was due.

The offence was allegedly committed on Feb 18, 1994, when he was managing director of Perwaja Rolling Mill and Development Sdn Bhd.

He is charged under section 409 of the Penal Code which carries a maximum 20-year jail sentence.

The prosecution is in the processing of wrapping up its case with the examination of the Anti-Corruption Agency's investigating officer Han Chee Rul, through whom it had hoped to tender the testimonies recorded in Hong Kong.