Though jailed in Cambodia, former Phnom Penh police chief Heng Pov is seeking prison sentences for three Malaysian government officials involved in his deportation to Cambodia, according to court documents and a lawyer for the ex-fugitive.
Malaysia’s Federal Court, the highest judicial authority in that country, will decide Friday whether to grant leave to Heng Pov and his attorneys in Kuala Lumpur to begin proceedings for contempt of court against the three officials.
Heng Pov’s lawyer N Sivananthan identified the officials Monday as: Malaysian Immigration Department Director-General Wahid bin Mohd Don, the department’s director of Enforcement, Ishak Haji Mohamed, and Mohamed Hanafiah bin Zakaria, deputy head of prosecution in the Attorney General’s Chambers.
Wahid, Ishak and Hanafiah acted “to interfere with administration of justice by the deliberate suppression of facts and/or by the presentation of falsehood and by orchestrating the premature deportation to Cambodia of [Heng Pov],” according to a Jan 24 Notice of Motion obtained Monday.
If leave is granted Friday, a hearing should occur within two to three weeks, Sivananthan said.
“Once I’ve passed this stage, a lot of things are going to come out,” he added.
Judges in Malaysia, as well as human rights groups and attorneys for Heng Pov, denounced the former police chief’s Dec 21 deportation to Phnom Penh, which occurred before Heng Pov’s final appeal hearing.
Cambodian and Malaysian officials have since defended their actions in the deportation.
Malaysian Embassy officials did not respond to e-mailed requests for comment Monday.
Wahid bin Mohd Don told the Associated Press news agency on Friday that he could not comment on pending court matters.
Interior Ministry spokesman Lieutenant General Khieu Sopheak noted that the Cambodian officials had acted properly.
“The Cambodian authorities just performed their duties according to the law provided,” he said.
