PUTRAJAYA: The Court of Appeal has dismissed Datuk Seri Khairuddin Abu Hassan’s appeal to strike out his economic sabotage attempt charge.

The three-man bench chaired by Court of Appeal president Tan Sri Md Raus Sharif today said that Khairuddin should have waited for disposal of a related appeal before deciding whether to proceed with the present matter.

Raus was referring to the prosecution’s appeal against a Kuala Lumpur High Court ruling to allow Khairuddin and co-accused Matthias Chang Wen Chieh be released on bail in their economic sabotage attempt case.

The prosecution’s appeal would be heard by the Court of Appeal on Nov 14. Raus said that Khairuddin’s application was the equivalent of making too many legal applications and amounted to abuse of court process.

Deputy public prosecutor Awang Armadajaya Awang Mahmud appeared for the Public Prosecutor, who is the respondent in the matter.

Khairuddin, who used to be Batu Kawan Umno division vice-chief, was appealing against a Kuala Lumpur High Court’s decision on April 13, which dismissed his bid to strike out his criminal charge.

On Oct 12 last year, Khairuddin, 54, and lawyer Chang, 66, were charged with attempting to sabotage Malaysia’s economy, at the Kuala Lumpur magistrate’s court.-nst