PKR vice-president and Pandan lawmaker Mohd Rafizi Ramli has been found guilty of breaching the Official Secrets Act 1972 (OSA) and sentenced to 18 months in jail.

The Kuala Lumpur Sessions Court judge Zulqarnain Hassan ruled that Rafizi had failed to raise reasonable doubt on the charges against him.

According to his charge sheet, Rafizi had page 98 of the auditor-general's report on 1MDB in his possession without authorisation, in breach of Section 8(1)(c)(iii) of the OSA.

He is also accused of disclosing the classified document without authorisation at the Parliament lobby on March 28, which is an offence under Section 8(1)(e)(iv) of the OSA. Each of the two provisions carry a maximum sentence of two years imprisonment upon conviction.

Rafizi’s defence team was led by lawyer Gobind Singh Deo, while deputy public prosecutor Shukor Abu Bakar headed the prosecution.

Rafizi was sentenced to 18 months jail for both charges. Both sentences will run concurrently.

However, the sessions judge allowed Gobind’s application for a stay of execution pending an appeal. Gobind later told reporters that the notice of appeal would be filed later this afternoon.

Zulqarnain also ordered for Rafizi’s bail to be raised by RM2,000 to RM6,000.

Previously on Oct 6 when Rafizi was supposed to enter his defence, the PKR vice-president said he could not do so because the entirety of page 98 of the 1MDB report was never produced in court.

Auditor-general confirmed authenticity

In his judgement, Zulqarnain said he had taken Rafizi's statement from the dock into consideration, although his testimony could not be examined by the prosecution.

He said Rafizi's argument that he could not defend himself unless the entirety of the document is tendered in court cannot be accepted.

In a video of Rafizi's March 28 press conference, the judge said, Rafizi had read out paragraphs 4.4.5, 4.4.6, 4.4.7, and a footnote from the document. This showed that he had detailed knowledge of the contents of the document.

In addition, he had uploaded a purported copy of the document on his blog.

The auditor-general Ambrin Buang had previously testified that these are indeed classified information.

"The possession and disclosure of any paragraph of an official secret or classified document is an offence, what more paragraphs 4.4.5, 4.4.6, 4.4.7 and the footnotes.

"I am of the view that there are strong grounds for me to reject the accused's arguments," he said.

Meanwhile, Gobind told reporters after the sentencing that Rafizi would remain a parliamentarian pending the exhaustion of the appeal process.

If an election is held while the appeal process is ongoing and the conviction still stands however, Rafizi would not qualify to stand for the election.