A former judge argued that forcing a suspect who has not been remanded to wear the lock-up attire and putting the person in handcuffs when bringing the person to court breached the detainee's fundamental liberty under the Federal Constitution.

Mohd Noor Abdullah, who is a member of the MACC advisory board, said a detainee's fundamental liberty included being presumed innocent until proven guilty in a court of law.

"So when taken to see the magistrate to seek further detention (remand), to investigate further if the person committed any offence, at that point in time, the person has yet to be proven guilty.

"As such, (authorities) should avoid making the (arrested) person wear clothes (lock-up uniforms) which could make the public perceive him as guilty,” he told a press conference in Kuala Lumpur.

Mohd Noor was responding to a question on whether MACC officers had breached the law in bringing former Felda chairperson Isa Samad to Putrajaya's Magistrates Court for remand proceedings clad in the orange lock-up attire.

Responding to the same question, former inspector-general of police Musa Hassan, who was present at the press conference, said Isa was detained overnight before taken to court and it was standard procedure to make him wear the lock-up attire.

Mohd Noor said he disagreed with Musa but was quick to add that it was okay for them to have differing views, from the perspective of an ex-judge who goes by the law and a former law enforcer.

Musa went on to point out that all law enforcement officers are given a discretion when carrying out their duties, for example, to decide whether a suspect should be handcuffed or otherwise when taken to court for a remand proceeding.

While concurring that law enforcement officers have the discretion to decide whether to place a suspect in handcuffs or otherwise, Mohd Noor said it is clear under the law that any unlawful arrest or handcuffing can be challenged in court.

“If the officer exercised his discretion wrongly, the accused or the person handcuffed can take actions against the officer for unlawful handcuffing,” he said when asked for comments on comparisons made between Isa’s arrest to that of Penang state-executive councillor Phee Boon Poh by Penang MACC.

Both senior politicians were taken to court in the orange lock-up attire but while it was clear that Phee’s hands were handcuffed, it was reported that Putrajaya MACC officers had exercised their discretion to not handcuff Isa.

PKR vice-president and lawyer N Surendran had last week accused the MACC of acting unlawfully by forcing individuals arrested to facilitate graft investigations to wear the orange lockup uniforms.