KUALA LUMPUR: A total of 924 applications for the review of the death penalty sentences and life imprisonment have been submitted to the court as of Oct 31, the Dewan Rakyat heard today.
Deputy Minister in Prime Minister's Department (Law and Institutional Reform) Ramkarpal Singh said of the total, 807 cases involved reviews of the death penalty, while another 117 involved reviews of life imprisonment sentences.
He said some RM12 million has been allocated for the review, including providing legal services.
"The Mandatory Death Penalty (Abolition) Act 2023 (Act 846) came into effect on July 4, while the Review of Sentence of Death and Imprisonment for Natural Life (Temporary Jurisdiction of the Federal Court) Act 2023 (Act 847) came into effect on Sept 12.
"(And) based on the statistics from the prison department, a total of 1,020 inmates will benefit from the enforcement of Act 847.
"At the same time, the first hearing for sentence review under Act 847 will be held on Nov 14 at the Federal Court," he said during the ministry's winding up-session of the 2024 Supply Bill at the committee level in Dewan Rakyat, today.
He said this in response to Gobind Singh Deo (PH-Damansara) who enquired about the cost involved in the application process of death penalty review, the total applications to date as well as the expected time frame for the applications to be heard.
Ramkarpal added that no specific time frame about the expected duration of the review process has been fixed, yet.
"The filing and hearing processes will be conducted in stages, taking into account various factors, including the age of the inmates, their health status, the length of their imprisonment, and other urgent considerations."
On other matters, Ramkarpal said a total of 42 disciplinary actions have been taken against the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC) between 2018 to September 2023, including warnings, imposition of fines and revocation of emoluments, among others.
"Of the total 15 of them were terminated. Meanwhile, misconduct cases of non-criminal offences involving officers will be referred to the Complaints Committee established under Section 15 of the MACC Act (Act 694).
"For cases involving criminal offence, officers will be reported to the police while cases related to corruption or abuse of power will be investigated by MACC as it falls under their jurisdiction."
