Case involving Shankar’s contempt of court set for remention on Feb 3

Shankar speaking to the press after the proceedings, with Bong on his left. 

KUCHING (Jan 29): The High Court here today has fixed Feb 3 to remention a case involving counsel Shankar Ram, who was cited for contempt of court on Jan 12.

Judicial Commissioner Alexander Siew fixed the date after Shankar’s counsel Dato Bong Ah Loi highlighted to the court that the defendant in the case Shankar was representing had also delayed in submitting a bundle of documents.

Shankar was representing Local Government and Housing Minister Dato Sri Dr Sim Kui Hian, who filed a suit against Kota Sentosa assemblyman Chong Chieng Jen over the state’s food aid allocation.

He was cited for contempt of court on Jan 12 after being found by Siew to had delayed the submission of documents for one month.

On Jan 12, Siew also dismissed the defamation suit against Chong as he ruled that holding back the bundle of documents for a month was an obstruction of justice and compromised the integrity of the trial.

Met by reporters, Bong said they looked forward to seeing whether the court would also say that the defendant’s counsel would also be guilty of contempt of court.

“The defendant has also not complied with the direction of the court, so we want to see whether the court will do the same thing to them or not, to strike out their counter claim.

“In this matter, some delay has not prejudiced the other side, there is no reason to find anybody guilty of contempt,” he explained.

According to Bong, the learned judge wants to go through the papers to consider whether the point they have raised, that whether the defendant is also guilty of the breach of the court’s direction.

“Whether he is going to review his order or not, that part we leave it to him. I believe under the rules and the law, he has certain power to review his own decision, but we will have to wait till the appeal comes up to overturn the decision,” he said.

With him was Shankar, who said he represented Dr Sim pro bono for he believed that the minister “is a good man and did what he could to the best of his ability” to help all Sarawakians without discrimination.

“And yet (Dr Sim) faced all sorts of social media attacks on his character and integrity. We should have this case heard because this is a matter of public interest. Sarawakians need to know but the case was dismissed, and I’ve been cited for contempt.”

Shankar reiterated that he had not delayed the submission of documents deliberately, and said he respected the court.

“We delayed but we filed it, the other side, they failed to file certain documents,” he added.

On Jan 12, Siew dismissed the defamation suit against Chong and referred Shankar to the Advocates’ Disciplinary Tribunal for the one-month delay in submitting the bundle of documents.

Through Shankar, Dr Sim filed the suit against Chong over alleged defamatory statement on allocation of funds for food assistance amid the Covid-19 pandemic on Apr 21 last year.

Chong acknowledged the receipt of the letter of demand from Dr Sim’s counsel on May 2 last year.

In that letter, Dr Sim demanded an apology over Chong’s criticism against the Gabungan Parti Sarawak (GPS) government in terms of food aid allocation.

Chong had alleged that Dr Sim was not being transparent on the food aid allocation for Padungan, Pending, Batu Lintang and Kota Sentosa, and such allocation involved a totat sum of RM800,000.

 

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