The Federal Court today reaffirmed a previous judgment that a detention order issued by the Home Minister under the preventive law was still valid even if there were irregularities by police

during investigation.

The unanimous verdict came from a three-man bench led by Chief Judge of Sabah and Sarawak Tan Sri Richard Malanjum in the case of businessman L Rajanderan, 45, who is being detained at the Simpang Renggam Detention Centre in Johor for two years for alleged drug trafficking activities.

The detention order under the Dangerous Drugs (Special Preventive Measures) Act issued by the Home Minister was effective April 9 last year.

Rajanderan was unsuccessful in his application for writ of habeas corpus to secure his release.

He applied to the apex court to review the decision of the previous Federal Court under Rule 137 of the Rules of the Federal Court.

Justice Malanjum and Federal Court judges Mohd Ghazali Mohd Yusoff and Heliliah Yusof found no merit in the application.

‘Clear infringement’

Rajanderan's counsel N Sivanathan submitted that there was a clear infringement of the law in the earlier Federal Court decision.

Senior federal counsel Najib Zakaria argued that Rajenderan's application for review did not fall within the scope of Rule 137 because he was seeking to relitigate on the same issues which he had canvassed in their appeal before the Federal Court.

The previous panel comprising Chief Justice Zaki Azmi and Federal Court judges Zulkefli Ahmad Makinudin and Abdull Hamid Embong had on June 14 this year ruled that any defect by police during investigation could not be considered as ground to secure release under preventive laws.

The panel held the detention order issued by the Home Minister superseded other considerations and any irregularity in police investigation did not affect the legality of the order.

- Bernama