PUTRAJAYA, March 15 — The Court of Appeal today struck out the appeal filed by former Sabah Infrastructure Development Minister Datuk Peter Anthony, who is charged with using false documents, to transfer his case from the Kuala Lumpur Sessions Court to the Kota Kinabalu Sessions Court.

A three-man bench comprising Datuk Nor Bee Ariffin, Datuk Ahmad Nasfy Yasin and Datuk Mohd Nazlan Mohd Ghazali came to a unanimous decision during the proceedings today.

Earlier, deputy public prosecutor Zaki Asyraf Zubir said the appellant (Peter) never appeared in court throughout the case management.

"I request that the court set a deadline for the appellant to appear in court,” he said, adding that the appellant had only filed a notice of appeal, but the appeal petition had not been filed since last year. Peter and his attorney were not present at today’s proceedings.

Peter filed an appeal against the Kuala Lumpur High Court’s decision on March 18 last year for his case to be transferred to the Kota Kinabalu Sessions Court.

Peter, 51, was charged as the managing director of Asli Jati Engineering Sdn Bhd with falsifying a letter from the Office of Universiti Malaysia Sabah Vice-Chancellor dated June 9, 2014, by inserting a false statement with the intention of using it to deceive others.

The offence was allegedly committed at the Office of the Principal Private Secretary to the Prime Minister at the Perdana Putra building in Putrajaya between June 13 and August 21, 2014.

The charge, framed under Section 468 of the Penal Code, carries a maximum jail term of seven years and a fine, if convicted.

On December 14 last year, the Kuala Lumpur Sessions Court ordered Peter to enter defence after finding that the prosecution had succeeded in proving a prima facie case against him.

On February 18, the defence team closed its case after calling three witnesses including Peter. The court set March 31 to hear oral submissions from both parties before deciding on the case. — Bernama