Sabah rep Peter Anthony loses appeal over UMS forgery conviction, to serve three-year prison term immediately

PUTRAJAYA, March 4 — The Court of Appeal today upheld former Sabah Infrastructure Development Minister Datuk Peter Anthony’s conviction and sentence of three years imprisonment and RM50,000 fine for falsifying documents related to a maintenance and service contract at Universiti Malaysia Sabah (UMS) 11 years ago.

This followed a decision by a panel of three Court of Appeal judges, comprising Datuk Ahmad Zaidi Ibrahim, Datuk Mohamed Zaini Mazlan and Datuk Azmi Ariffin in dismissing Peter’s appeal against his conviction and sentence handed down by the Kuala Lumpur Sessions Court on May 26, 2022.

The court ordered the Melalap Assemblyman to serve the sentence from today.

Peter, 54, filed the appeal to overturn his conviction and three-year prison sentence, along with a fine of RM50,000 on April 19, 2023.

The appeal was dismissed by the High Court on April 18, 2023, making this his final appeal.

Peter had paid the fine.

He was charged in his capacity as managing director of Syarikat Asli Jati Sdn Bhd with forging a letter from the office of UMS Deputy Vice-Chancellor, dated June 9, 2014, by inserting a false statement to use it for fraudulent purposes.

The offence was allegedly committed at the office of the Prime Minister’s principal private secretary at the Perdana Putra building in Putrajaya between June 13 and Aug 21, 2014.

Justice Mohamed Zaini when reading out the judgment said the appellate court should not alter the factual findings of the lower court unless those findings are shown to be incorrect.

“This is especially important when the conclusions depend heavily on the credibility of the witnesses and the impressions formed by the court that directly observed and assessed their honesty and accuracy.

“We are convinced that the Sessions Court provided a thorough judicial evaluation of the evidence, and we find no errors that would justify intervention by the appellate court.

Therefore, we conclude that the conviction of the accused is sound. We dismiss the appellant’s appeal and uphold the conviction and sentence imposed by the Sessions Court,” he said. — Bernama