Govt appeals court’s dismissal of Kedah Umno, Habib Jewels asset seizures
Bernama
-December 26, 2019 1:56 PM
Kedah Umno and Habib Jewels had received RM1.05 million and RM100,000 respectively from former prime minister Najib Razak. (Facebook pic)KUALA LUMPUR: The Attorney-General’s Chambers (AGC) has filed an appeal against a High Court decision in dismissing an application to forfeit RM1.15 million seized from Kedah Umno and Habib Jewels Sdn Bhd.
The money had been frozen by the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC) for alleged links to the 1MDB scandal.
Deputy public prosecutor Abdul Rashid Sulaiman said the notice of appeal was filed at the Court of Appeal last Dec 16.
“The prosecution also applied to postpone the execution of the order for the return of the property (RM1.15 million) to the respondents, namely Kedah Umno and Habib Jewels, on Dec 20,” he said after the case management before High Court deputy registrar Mahyudin Mohmad Som today.
Kedah Umno and Habib Jewels claimed that the monies, amounting to RM1.05 million and RM100,000 respectively, were from former prime minister Najib Razak.
Rashid said at today’s proceeding, the court also ordered Kedah Umno to file an affidavit-in-reply on the prosecution’s application for a stay of the order for the return of the monies by Jan 7, while Habib Jewels is given until Jan 14 to do so.
The court set Jan 7 for case management of the Kedah Umno case, represented by lawyer R. Hanita, and Feb 5 for Habib Jewels, represented by lawyer Gooi Yong Shuh.
On Dec 13, High Court judge Mohd Nazlan Mohd Ghazali dismissed the application by the prosecution to forfeit a sum of RM1.15 million seized from Kedah Umno and Habib Jewels on the grounds that the prosecution had failed to prove its civil forfeiture cases against the two entities.
