Dr. Khir Toyo: The case when a layman got confuse

Dr. Mohamad Khir Toyo was the Menteri Besar of Selangor and a dentist by profession. He was the last Menteri Besar of BN in Selangor before BN was defeated in the 2008 election. In the latest 2013 election he was not chosen to defend his seat in Sungai Burung because of the impending court case.

At the moment Dr. Khir has been charged by the High Court with “obtaining a piece of property below its actual market value”. An appeal was filed at the Court of Appeal, but the result did not change anything as all the judges decided to keep the ruling. According to his website, Dr. Khir will file an appeal to the Federal Court, although he is not convinced that justice will be served to him.

The charged put on Dr. Khir came from a very confusing judgment from a layman point of view. The charged seems to indicate that Dr. Khir had misused his power to obtain a property below its actual market value.

The property in question is a piece of land with a bungalow. Previously purchased by a contractor at RM6.5 mill, but then sold to Dr. Khir at RM3.5 mill. If this fact is considered than it is true that Dr. Khir had obtained it below its market or original value. However, there is another fact seems to be ignored by the court. Dr. Khir did not pluck the RM3.5 mill value out of the thin air. It came from an independent property assessor appointed by HSBC bank. The reason why the property was devalued because the bungalow was incompletely renovated and a lot of things need to be done before it can be declared as habitable.

The learned judges are the people that we put our trust in order to find justice. Usually, the findings will be made clear as if why this or that fact is considered or rejected, what it leads to and the final conclusion. For example, Dato’ Seri Anwar homosexual case with Saiful Bukhari was rejected on the ground that the handling procedure of processing DNA sample from Dato’ Seri Anwar was weak and may lead to mishandling. However the case of Dr. Khir Toyo is very confusing as to why a certain fact is not considered. My prayer is with Dr. Khir, hoping that Federal Court will reconsider all the facts presented. I was once told that the court will not charge anyone unless that fact is very clear and without prejudice. But then again I am a layman.