Court dismisses govt’s application to forfeit RM100,000 seized from PBAKM

KUALA LUMPUR June 11 — The High Court here today dismissed the government’s application to forfeit RM100,000, allegedly linked to the 1Malaysia Development Berhad (1MDB) fund scandal, that was seized from Yayasan Persatuan Bekas Anggota Kemas Malaysia (PBAKM).

Judge Datuk Muhammad Jamil Hussin made the decision after finding that the prosecution had failed to show that the money seized was, in whole or in part, from the payment made by former Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak.

“The applicant also failed to show which part of the RM100,000 that was seized was payment from Najib or from other sources,” he said.

In the judgment, Muhammad Jamil said the court held that the RM100,000 that was seized and wanted to be forfeited by the prosecution cannot be said as a whole or in part as Najib’s payment to PBAKM.

“It is clear that the RM100,000 and the latest balance in the bank account of the respondent contains a mixed amount of money, from payments made by Datuk Seri Najib and from other sources,” he added.

Muhammad Jamil said no third party had come to court on Sept 4, 2019 to make claim on the money and PBAKM had also raised several issues in objecting to the prosecution’s forfeiture application.

He said PBAKM had never denied the fact that they had received RM100,000 from Najib, but denied that the money was proceeds from unlawful activities.

“The respondent’s (PBAKM) bank statements also showed the deposit and withdrawals in the account. Najib issued a check dated Oct 19, 2013 amounting to RM100,000 to the respondent and the check was deposited into the respondent’s account on Oct 22 the same year,” he said.

He said the bank statement also showed that after the check payment from Najib, there were many transactions in and out of the bank accounts and the lowest balance was RM1,512.46 as of March 31, 2016.

“After that, there were several transactions in and out of the respondent’s bank account and the latest balance as of May 13, 2019 was RM805,751.13,” he added.

After Muhammad Jamil handed down the decision, deputy public prosecutor Nik Haslinie Hashim, from the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC), informed the court that the prosecution would file an application to suspend the release of the money to PBAKM.

At today’s proceeding , PBAKM was represented by lawyers Datuk Julita Ilhani Abdul Jabbar and Mohamed Azahari Matiasin.

— BERNAMA