The Importance of Pleading Actus Reus in Fraud & Abuse of Power Charges (Law Review, July 2025)
In his latest piece for The Law Review (Thomson Reuters Malaysia), Steven Perian KC examines the critical requirement for the prosecution to explicitly plead the actus reus—the physical act of wrongdoing—in fraud and abuse of power cases. Drawing on Malaysian statutory provisions and the landmark Ravindran Ramasamy v PP decision, he argues that vague or defective charges undermine fairness and cannot be cured by procedural safeguards alone.
Clarity in charge framing isn’t just good practice—it’s a constitutional necessity. Justice demands it.
