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KUALA LUMPUR: Malaysia’s Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC) failed in its attempt to lose RM700,000 allegedly linked to the 1MDB scandal, which was seized from Pekan Umno.
High Court Judicial Commissioner Ahmad Shahrir Mohd Salleh dismissed the anti-bribery agency forfeiture request against Pekan Umno, who was named as the first defendant, and 40 other defendants today.
In his ruling, Shahrir said the court found that, on the balance of probabilities, MACC had failed to comply with the requirements of Section 56 of the Anti-Money Laundering, Counter-Terrorism Financing and Proceeds from Illegal Activities Act to get the RM700,000. on the confiscated Pekan Umno account.
“Confiscation procedures require strict adherence to the law, since it referred to the constitutional guarantee of article 13 of the Federal Constitution,” he said.
“Nothing less would be enough. Given the circumstances, I hereby reject the application. “
He said that in all likelihood, if the court accepted the applicant’s position that the money, which was seized on June 25, 2018, was the product of illegal activity, the fact that the account balance was only slightly more of RM10,000 as of January 31, 2017, effectively negates such an assumption.
“Furthermore, the applicant made no attempt to get through this specific statement of the defendants and I am forced to find that the applicant had therefore admitted such facts,” he said.
“Therefore, I consider that the applicant has not been able to prove on the balance of probabilities that the seized sum of RM700,000 is the product of illegal activity.”
Shahrir said it was not much about the fact that the 700,000 RM received from the disputed accounts of former Prime Minister Najib Razak had been spent by Pekan Umno, but more importantly, the applicant did not prove that the sum of money, which was frozen, it was from the fourth count as held by respondents.
“This is evident by carefully reading the respective account numbers for the first account and the fourth account,” he said.
He said respondents argued that the RM700,000 was used in its entirety to defray utilities, equipment purchases and other payments for the first respondent and that the account balance shown on the first respondent’s account in the date the freezing order was served. it did not originate from Najib’s contested accounts.
MACC Deputy Prosecutor Abdul Rashid Sulaiman later told reporters that they would file an appeal on today’s decision.
Attorney M Reza Hassan represented Pekan Umno.
