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Justice Christopher Chin issued a mandamus order to compel the government to make public the documents on the crash, popularly known as the “Double Six tragedy”, Malay Mail reported.
Chin gave Putrajaya until June 8 to comply.
The ruling by Chin was for a lawsuit filed by former Sabah chief minister Harris Salleh.
In the incident on June 6, 1976, Fuad who had been sworn in as chief minister just 53 days before, died along with 10 others including prominent Sabah ministers when the GAF Nomad aircraft they were in crashed in Sembulan, Kota Kinabalu.
Others who perished included state ministers Salleh Sulong, Chong Thien Vun and Peter Mojuntin.
Following the incident, the Australian GAF Nomad manufacturer and the Australian Department of Transport launched an investigation to prove that the crash was not due to mechanical issues.
The probe was completed some four months later but the full report was not made public. Instead, it was classified under the Official Secrets Act.
In 2018, then assistant minister in the chief minister’s department Jimmy Wong called for the report to be declassified.
Chin today ruled that if the declassification of the report on the crash required action by the Australian government, Putrajaya must ensure that Canberra acts accordingly.
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