Ex-Wife To Appeal Contempt Charge Against Taib’s Son
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- Published on Thursday, 06 March 2014 16:29
PIC: The Malay MailKUALA LUMPUR: The Shariah High Court here today threw out an application to cite Sarawak tycoon Datuk Seri Mahmud Abu Bekir Abdul Taib for contempt over his failure to comply with its order to pay over RM900,000 in child maintenance.
Abu Bekir, the son of the newly-appointed Sarawak Governor, Tan Sri Abdul Taib Mahmud, was hauled to court by his ex-wife Shahnaz Abdul Majid when he failed to pay RM902,746.69 for their 21-year-old son’s education in the UK.
“The court disallowed our application to cite him for contempt,” Shahnaz’s lawyer Akbardin Abdul Kader told The Malay Mail Online when contacted, confirming the judge had dismissed his client’s application.
The lawyer added that the court had decided to hear Abu Bekir’s application to set aside the RM900,000-odd court order.
But Akbardin noted that today’s decision was “unusual”, saying that the court would typically enforce its order.
“Once an order is granted, you must proceed with the order,” he said, referring to the ex-parte order for child maintainence.
Akbardin confirmed that his client will be appealing against the court’s decision not to continue on with the contempt proceedings, saying: “Tomorrow we will file the notice of appeal.”
He said that the court has fixed June 10 to hear Shahnaz’s main claim — a RM121 million suit against Abu Bekir for child maintenance.
He said that the court has fixed June 10 to hear Shahnaz’s main claim — a RM121 million suit against Abu Bekir for child maintenance.
On February 19 this year, Abu Bekir said he could not afford to pay over RM900,000 in child maintenance to Shahnaz as the amount was “too much”, also testifying that he was afraid that the money would not reach their child.
“I cannot comply with the ex-parte order to pay RM900,000 as the amount is too much as I have another wife and four children,” the businessman was quoted as telling the Shariah High Court during contempt proceedings then.
He denied neglecting his son’s needs and said he provided pocket money, new clothes and a Mitsubishi car in London, news portal Malaysiakini reported then.
Shahnaz, who is the sister of popular singer Datuk Sheila Majid, has testified that Abu Bekir has an estimated RM1 billion in assets locally and some US$700 million (RM2.2 billion) in bank accounts globally.
At the retrial of her RM400 million divorce from Mahmud Abu Bekir, Shahnaz testified last month that her husband had married his Australian mistress without her knowledge, and later fathered a child with the latter.
She has further testified that Abu Bekir stopped paying her maintenance since August 2011.
Abu Bekir filed for divorce from Shahnaz on May 11, 2011, almost two decades after they married in 1992. Shahnaz has accused Mahmud Abu Bekir of abusing her from 1994 to 1998.
The Malay Mail
