Prevention of Crime Act 1959 (Poca) detainee RS Vishnu Moorthy’s lawyer has filed an application for revision against his client's extended detention without trial, claiming there was a “procedural defect” because attorney-general Mohamed Apandi Ali did not sign off on the extension.

On April 18, a magistrate's court in Kuala Lumpur extended the detention of Vishnu Moorthy and five other individuals involved in the allegedly fraudulent foreign exchange scheme VenusFX, by another 38 days.

“Under Poca, the attorney-general must personally sign the application for detention, to say that he is satisfied that there are sufficient grounds for it.

“But in this case, a very junior deputy public prosecutor signed it, so this is a procedural defect,” explained lawyer P Uthayakumar to Malaysiakini after filing the application at the  High Court in Kuala Lumpur this morning...