KUALA LUMPUR: The Court of Appeal has unanimously allowed the Securities Commission’s appeal and set aside a 2021 High Court decision which had acquitted former executive deputy chairman of Malaysian Merchant Marine Bhd Datuk Ramesh Rajaratnam for insider trading.
In delivering the Court of Appeal’s broad grounds, Wong held that the appellate court has a judicial duty, after trial and on appeal, to consider the merits of the appeal. This means the appellate court has to sieve through the appeal records, consider the written submissions, and listen to the oral submissions before making a just decision on the appeal.
The Court of Appeal also maintained the same bail conditions as was earlier imposed on Ramesh by the Sessions Court, namely a bail sum of RM200,000 with one surety and the surrender of his passport to the court. On Sept 11, 2019, after a full trial, the Sessions Court convicted Ramesh on all three charges. He was sentenced to five years imprisonment and a fine of RM3mil for each charge. The imprisonment terms were ordered to run concurrently.