Bail Procedure in Malaysia

Recently I had to attend criminal court because a friend was unwittingly implicated in a voluntarily causing hurt case or better known as a s323 case because the offence is punishable under section 323 of the Penal Code.

So I went for the remand order [RO] hearing. Because for the police to detain him for more than 48 hours, there must be an order from the Magistrates.

But of course we would like to bail him out because if not he will be sent to the Sungai Buloh prison.

Apparently:-

- an accused are not allowed any visitation rights during their first week.

- convicted are not allowed visitation during their first month there.

HOW TO POST BAIL

But in order to post bail, you MUST make sure you have sufficient money with you or in the bank as there are ATM machines in the court premise.

Basically once bail is allow by the court, you have to go downstairs to the bail counter which will issue a letter to you.

With this letter, you can then open a special savings account in any bank and a savings account book [savings book] will be issued.

You will then deposit the savings book with the court.

So you do not actually pay cash or cheque to the court, which is quite dangerous. Also with this method, the court can ensure that you cannot withdraw the money.

Each bail will have its own specific instructions. For example, the accused must:-

a) report himself every month to a police station specified by the accused
b) surrender his passport
c) not to go near the complainant or complainant's families

And most importantly, both the accused and the bailor attend court on any given future court hearing or mention dates. Failure to attend court will result the bail money being forfeited.

Even with medical reasons, the bailor must attend court and inform the court with valid proof and all these record of attendance must happen before the court starts hearing at 9am.