“The Arab donation defence was incapable of belief. The accused is estopped from bringing it up again, as this was raised before a superior court where the decision was upheld by the Court of Appeal and the Federal Court. This is an unbelievable tale and a tale that surpassed even those from the Arabian Nights and a concoction bereft of any credibility.”

- Judge Collin Lawrence Sequerah

COMMENT | Judge Collin Lawrence Sequerah’s observation is more than dry legal reasoning. It is a dismissal delivered with stylistic force, stripping the “Arab donation defence” of any iota of plausibility.

The legal mechanism is straightforward - estoppel. The accused is barred from re-litigating a defence already rejected at the highest levels - the Court of Appeal and the Federal Court. Finality in law is established.

But the judge’s power was shown in his scorn. By invoking “Arabian Nights” - a treasure trove of fantastical tales - he categorises the defence not merely as weak, but as fiction.

Words like “concoction” and “bereft of any credibility” suggest fabrication, not fact. The ruling layers honest condemnation above legal principle: to re-raise such a defence is an affront not only to procedure, but to reason itself.

Last Saturday, Malaysiakini recalled the words of...