Court stays order to freeze RM758.2mil assets linked to Daim’s widow

Court stays order to freeze RM758.2mil assets linked to Daim’s widow

KUALA LUMPUR: The High Court here has stayed its earlier ex parte order to freeze assets in London worth £132 million (about RM758.2 million) belonging to Naimah Khalid and her family.

Justice Azhar Abdul Hamid will hear the application by the widow of former finance minister Daim Zainuddin to intervene in that case on July 9.

The Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC) had applied to freeze the assets, claiming they were potentially linked to offences under Section 4(1) of the Anti-Money Laundering, Anti-Terrorism Financing and Proceeds of Unlawful Activities Act 2001.

The London assets include two commercial buildings worth £55.2 million, five luxury residences valued at £77.1 million, and a bank account held under the Ilham Foundation.

A separate court also fixed Aug 1 to hear Naimah’s application to intervene in MACC’s ex parte bid to freeze over RM544 million worth of investment funds belonging to her, her family and associates in Singapore.

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Justice K Muniandy set the date after hearing submissions from deputy public prosecutor Mahadi Abdul Jumaat and Naimah’s counsel, senior lawyer Gurdial Singh.

Mahadi told the court that MACC sought to freeze 12 investment accounts believed to contain funds derived from Malaysian sources that were never declared to local authorities.

“The total of these movable assets is over RM544 million or RM544,674,050.97, to be exact. They are in US dollars and pounds sterling.

“These assets have to be blocked to prevent the risk of them being disposed of,” Mahadi said.

However, Gurdial said that such an order must not be issued without allowing those affected to be heard.

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“If you are going to prohibit that person, then the person must be involved to respond, to say whether or not that prohibitory order could or should be made, and whether there is a basis for the making of that order.

“Otherwise, it is a breach of natural justice because you are not giving them a chance to be heard with regard to their property, and this is not a small amount of assets. It’s worth over RM544 million,” he said.

Naimah, who is currently facing an asset declaration charge, is accused of failing to declare her ownership in various companies, several plots of land here and in Penang, and two vehicles.