After a slew of judge changes, the RM50 million civil suit lawyer Rosli Dahlan filed against Utusan Malaysia and the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC) over what is known as the ' Copgate affair ' has been fixed for hearing for five days from Nov 10.

 

This follows questions surrounding the arrest and charge levelled against Rosli on tjhe eve of Hari Raya Aidilfitri seven years ago, on which he had been fully acquitted and cleared.

 

The trial will be heard before Justice Su Geok Yiam, who will be the fourth judge to hear the matter.

 

The dates were decided yesterday the following case management of the matter before Justice Su.

 

The matter was initially fixed before Justice John Louis O'Hara, who then struck off Rosli's suit.

 

Rosli appealed and the Court of Appeal agreed with him and reinstated the suit and fixed before another judge.

Lawyer disallowed to give oral evidence

 

The case was then moved before Justice Hue Siew Kheng, who repeatedly asked the matter to be resolved amicably and quickly, but even then she disallowed Rosli from giving his oral evidence.

 

On appeal to the Court of Appeal, Rosli successfully set aside Justice Hue's order and the case was brought before another judge, Justice Nik Hasmat Nik Mohamad.

 

However, Justice Nik Hasmat was also taken off the case at the last minute, and it has now been brought before Justice Su.

 

Rosli had also tried to consolidate this suit with another separate RM48 million suit he had filed against attorney-general (AG) Abdul Gani Patail ( left ), former inspector-general of police (IGP) Musa Hassan and MACC chief commissioner Abu Kasim Mohamad for malicious prosecution and public misfeasance.

 

This action he filed separately and together with former Commercial Crime Investigation director Ramli Yusof , who was implicated in the 'Copgate affair' and has also filed a RM128.5 million claim.

 

The attorney-general tried to have their suit struck out, but KL High Court judicial commissioner Vazeer Alam Mydin Meera ruled the top legal officer in the country was not immune to legal action.

 

However, the AG's lawyers were successful in getting both cases to be heard separately, although the facts and witnesses are the same, and the matter is now stayed following the AG's appeal.

 

Five-year wait for hearing

 

Rosli, a partner at the law firm Lee Hishammuddin Allen and Gledhill, filed the suit against Utusan Malaysia and MACC in 2009 for defamation, assault and false imprisonment leading to his charge in 2007, of which he was acquitted years later.

 

By then Utusan Malaysia had issued a public apology to Rosli admitting that it had sensationalised and falsified its report and "acted beyond the parameters of ethical journalism".

 

Besides Utusan Malaysia , Rosli named 15 defendants including Abu Kassim, who was then MACC's number two officer, officers from the Attorney-General's Chambers, Bank Negara and the government as defendants.

 

Being a director of several large multinational companies and a trustee of an international charitable organisation, Rosli claimed their actions have affected his integrity and good reputation.

 

His involvement came to light after he tried to help Ramli, who was then entrusted to get rid of the illegal money lending syndicate including a leading underworld figure named Goh Cheng Poh or Tengku Goh, who was allegedly linked to then top cop Musa.

 

When Goh was placed under restricted residence, the AG's Chambers did not want to act for the Commercial Crime Department headed by Ramli to challenge the suspect's habeas corpus application, resulting in Rosli being roped in to draft the affidavits for Ramli, his arresting officers and former Deputy Home Minister Johari Baharom.

 

To make matters worse, Rosli had acted for Malaysia Airlines in several of the national carrier's international disputes.

 

Ramli who was then the number three officer in the police force had also investigated the airline's losses and had recommended to then prime minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi that action could be taken against former MAS chairperson Tajudin Ramli for the losses, where if the AG failed to do so, the police are up to the task.

 

This allegedly led to the purported fabrication of charges on Ramli being labelled as the ' RM27 million cop ' as well as charges levelled on both him and Rosli.

 

It was previously reported that Rosli was later successful in his defamation suit against New Straits Times and the MACC, where both the daily and the MACC were ordered to pay a total of RM300,000, and the decision was upheld by the Court of Appeal.

Rosli's defamation suit against The Star resulted in the MCA-owned daily having to settle with an apology and payment of undisclosed damages to him last year, in order for him to withdraw the suit.