PUTRAJAYA: Incarcerated former Sabah infrastructure minister Datuk Peter Anthony wants his review applicationagainst his forgery conviction, three-year jail sentence and RM50,000 fine to be heard before the Sabah legislative assembly is dissolved.

Peter's lawyer, Mohamed Haniff Khatri Abdulla, said this was because his 54-year-old client, who has been serving the sentence since March, is still the Melalap assemblyman.

"It is believed that the Sabah state legislative assembly will be dissolved soon. I understand it (will happen) in September.

"Therefore, I request for a review hearing date before that," he said during proceedings before a Court of Appeal (CoA) panel led by Datuk Azman Abdullah today.

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Haniff's request came after Azman, who sat with judges Datuk Lim Chong Fong and Datuk Dr Lim Hock Leng, said they needed the grounds of judgment before hearing the review.

The panel was today scheduled to hear the prosecution's preliminary objection (PO) against Peter's review.

"We have discussed and agreed that looking at the submissions and affidavits that had been filed, parties had touched on the broad grounds.

"We need to look at the full grounds of judgment," said Azman.

Deputy public prosecutor Datuk Wan Shaharuddin Wan Ladin, assisted by Haresh Prakash Somiah, did not object.

Azman then set Aug 20 to hear the review.

Haniff, who appeared with lawyer Datuk Rosal Azimin Ahmad, had also asked that the review hearing proceed even if the grounds of judgment could not be obtained by Aug 20.

Peter was also present in court clad in a prison outfit in the dock.

His supporters also sat in the public gallery during the proceedings.

In March, Peter was jailed after losing his appeal to set aside his guilty conviction, a three-year prison term and a RM50,000 fine for falsifying documents related to a maintenance and service contract at Universiti Malaysia Sabah (UMS) in 2014.

Peter had earlier paid the fine.

A three-member panel of CoA judges led by Datuk Ahmad Zaidi Ibrahim ordered Anthony to be jailed after dismissing his appeal to overturn the Kuala Lumpur Sessions Court decision in 2022, which was upheld by the High Court in 2023.

Zaidi, who sat with judges Datuk Mohamed Zaini Mazlan and Datuk Azmi Ariffin, had said they were convinced that the Sessions Court had conducted a thorough judicial evaluation of the evidence and they found no errors that would justify their intervention.

In May, Wan Shaharuddin had raised a PO against Peter's review which he said was premature as the case's grounds of judgment were still being prepared.

He said the broad grounds do not contain a point he wanted to submit against Peter's review.

Peter, who was Parti Warisan Sabah vice-president, filed the review on March 14 while the PO was on Apr 25.

The review sought to set aside the conviction and sentence; cancellation of the committal order as well as consequential orders to ensure justice in the case.

Peter, as the managing director of Asli Jati Engineering Sdn Bhd, was charged with using a forged letter from UMS's deputy vice-chancellor's office with the intention of deceiving the office of the principal private secretary to the prime minister.

The document was in regards to a purported collaboration with UMS to fund and set up a monitoring and evaluation (M&E) technical training centre via direct negotiation in July 2014.

He committed the offence at the Perdana Putra Building in Putrajaya between June 13, 2014, and Aug 21, 2014.