ONE of the most closely watched and significant court decisions of 2025 was a landmark High Court ruling in favour of the Sabah Law Society (SLS) on Sabah’s constitutional entitlement to 40 per cent of its net revenue.
On Oct 17, Judge Datuk Celestina Stuel Galid allowed the SLS’ judicial review on the State’s constitutional entitlement to 40 per cent of the net revenue derived from Sabah, and ordered the Federal Government to hold another review with the State Government within 90 days.
In delivering her decision, Celestina granted an order of mandamus directing the Federal Government, as the first respondent, to conduct the review with the Sabah Government, the second respondent, under Article 112D of the Federal Constitution.
The judge ruled that the review must be held within 90 days and that an agreement between the Federal and State governments must be reached within 180 days from the date of the order.
The order is to give effect to the Federation making the 40 per cent entitlement to the State of Sabah as provided under Article 112C read together with subsection (1) of section 2, Part IV of the Tenth Schedule of the Federal Constitution for each consecutive financial year from 1974 to 2021.
“I allow the application as prayed for in para 112 in Enclosure 101 with amendment to paragraph 3(a),” she said in her ruling delivered in open court.
The court made no order as to costs.
The SLS had named the Federal and State governments as the first and second respondents in it judicial review application.
The SLS filed a judicial review leave application on June 8, 2022, after the Federal Government announced on April 14, 2022 that an agreement had been reached with the Sabah State Government, and named the Federal and State governments as the first and second respondents.
On Nov 11, 2022, the High Court granted SLS leave to proceed with the judicial review, while the Attorney General’s Chambers (AGC), acting for the Federal Government, later secured a stay order to halt the High Court from hearing the merits of the case, pending appeal.
On June 18, 2024, the Court of Appeal dismissed the Federal Government’s appeal against the leave granted to SLS and directed the High Court to fix a date for the full hearing.
The Federal Government then applied for leave to appeal the ruling to the Federal Court, but in Oct 17, 2024, the Federal Court dismissed the application.
The SLS is seeking a declaration, among others, that the Federal Government’s failure to hold a second review in 1974 with the State Government was a breach and contravention of its constitutional duty stipulated under Article 112D, Clauses (1), (3) and (4) of the Federal Constitution.
It said the 40 per cent entitlement remained due and payable by the Federal Government to the State Government for each consecutive financial year for the period of 1974 to 2021, in which a failure to pay the entitlement was a breach of the fundamental right to property of the Sabah Government and ultimately, of the people of Sabah as enshrined under Article 13 of the Federal Constitution.
SLS also sought an order of mandamus directed to the respondent to hold another review with the state government under the provisions of Article 112D of the Federal Constitution, to give effect to the payment of the 40 per cent entitlement for each consecutive financial year from 1974 to 2021 within 30 days, and to reach a decision within 90 days from the date of the order, and that the respondent pays the entitlement to the State Government or as constitutional damages for breach of Article 13 of the Federal Constitution, or both.
On Nov 14, the Attorney General’s Chambers (AGC) announced that it had filed a Notice of Appeal at the Kota Kinabalu High Court on Nov 13, only against parts of the court’s decision related to several alleged errors in the judge’s grounds of judgement.
The AGC stressed that the Federal Government is not appealing on the issue of Sabah’s special Grant entitlement based on the 40 per cent revenue rate.
Meanwhile, 13 of the 15 individuals, including a Datuk, who were charged last year with being members of the organised crime group “Geng Upik”, reportedly Sabah’s largest drug syndicate operating from 2015 to 2023, were sentenced by the High Court this year after pleading guilty to a lesser charge.
On March 18 and 20, this year, 10 of them were each sentenced to three years after pleading guilty to the alternative charge of assisting an organised criminal group to further the interest of the group between June 15 and Dec 24, 2023.
The alternative charges under Section 130W of the Penal Code were offered by the prosecution to the 10 individuals following the acceptance of their representation letters to the prosecution.
The 10 were Mahathir Jibarail, 49, Mohd Faridzul Asmahadi, 32, Mohd Fikri Asme, 29, and Manan Ungok @ Salleh, 52, Mohd Fauzie Rablin, 34, Fazrul Bahar, 33, Shahlan Shah Abdul Samad, 38, Mazlan Mahmud, 49, Alkan Abraham, 36, and Norsyafilah Pawawoi, 28.
On June 5, Datuk Maslan Sani, a 42-year-old businessman, who acted as the leader of the “Geng Upik” group, was jailed five years after he pleaded guilty to being a member of the “Geng Upik” organised crime group between 2015 and Dec 24, 2023, here, under Section 130V(1) of the Penal Code carries a jail term of between five and 20 years, on conviction.
On the same date, another individual, Nelson Yen Yee Chung, 47, was handed three years jail after pleading guilty to the alternative charge of assisting an organised criminal group, “Geng Upik” to further the interest of the group between 2023 and Dec 24, 2023, under Section 130W of the Penal Code.
On July 16, another man, Zulkahar Dusing, 30, was jailed five years after he changed his plea to guilty to being a member of the organised crime group “Geng Upik”, midway through the trial, while the third witness was testifying, under Section 130V(1) of the Penal Code.
The remaining two accused, former Tawau CID officer Insp Rahman Burijin, 44, and General Operations Force member Sjn Jaisalfian Jaineh @ Zaini, 45, were on trial on their respective charges under the same Section.
Meanwhile, eight of the 10 individuals, including two bank managers, charged last year in one of the most shocking criminal cases involving an organised crime group linked to fraudulent withdrawals totalling RM24.2 million from fixed deposit accounts, were jailed by the High Court this year after pleading guilty to an alternative charge.
On June 13, three of them, self-employed Sugumaran K. Ponniah, 56; Subramaniam Thangavelu, 57, a primary school teacher; and Hasran Magin, 47, a fisherman, were each sentenced to five years’ jail for assisting an organised criminal group to further the group’s interests, under Section 130W of the Penal Code carries a jail term of up to 10 years on conviction.
On Aug 12, four of them including a woman, were each sentenced to three and a half years jail after pleaded guilty to the similar alternative charge, business contractor Josepin J. Langkan, 39, Vireonis Jonok, 36, Leong Hin Ping, 64, and unlicensed taxi driver Nasir Abdul Rasid, 62.
On Dec 4, an office assistant Mazlani Jenuary, 54, was jailed three years after pleading guilty to the alternative charge under the same Section.
Meanwhile, on Dec 2, a 54-year-old Christina @ Caroline Pianus Etip was discharged and acquitted of the charge after the prosecution withdrew the charge against her.
The only remaining accused, Iren Chin Nyuk Thien, will continue her trial on Feb 10, 2026, on the original charge.
Meanwhile, a murder case in Lahad Datu that shocked the State in 2024 saw the Tawau High Court convict 13 male students from a vocational college in Lahad Datu of murdering their hostel mate.
On Aug 28, one of them, a young offender aged 19 at the time of the incident, was sentenced to 30 years’ jail and ordered given 12 lashes of the cane.
The remaining 12, who were below 18 at the time, were ordered to be detained at the pleasure of the Yang di-Pertua Negeri (TYT) of Sabah under Section 97(2)(b) of the Child Act 2001.
Judge Datuk Duncan Sikodol meted out the sentence after considering their social reports, after all 13, aged between 16 and 19 were on August 22 found guilty and convicted under Section 302 of the Penal Code of murdering the victim at KVLD between 9pm on March 21 and 7.38am on March 22, 2024.
No less sensational was the case of a contractor and his now ex-wife, who were jointly charged with the murder of their domestic helper four years ago.
On June 20, Mohammad Ambree Yunos @ Unos, 44, and Etiqah Siti Noorashikeen Mohd Sulong, 37, were found guilty and convicted by Judge Datuk Dr Lim Hock Leng of murdering one Nur Afiyah Daeng Damin, 28, between Dec 8 and 11, 2021, at a unit in Amber Tower, Lido Avenue Condominium, Penampang.
They were each sentenced to 34 years in prison. Ambree was also ordered given 12 strokes of the cane, while Etiqah was spared the whipping due to her gender.
The court ordered the duo, who had been out on court bail, to begin serving their prison sentences from the date of their conviction.
They were jointly charged under Section 302 of the Penal Code, read together with Section 34 of the same Code, which carries the death penalty or a prison term of no less than 30 years jail and not more than 40 years jail, along with no fewer than 12 strokes of the cane, on conviction.
Meanwhile, on Oct 29, a police inspector who had been on death row for five years was acquitted after the Federal Court quashed his conviction for murder.
The apex court overturned the death sentence imposed on Ahmad Rizal Umar over the killing of single mother Kartini Borhan in Keningau in 2011, ruling that the prosecution had failed to prove its case beyond reasonable doubt.
Ahmad Rizal had been sentenced to death by the High Court in 2020, with his appeal dismissed in 2024, before his final appeal succeeded this year.
