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KUALA LUMPUR (Bernama): Malaysia’s Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC) failed in its attempt to lose RM700,000 allegedly linked to the 1Malaysia Development Berhad (1MDB) scandal, which was seized from Pekan Umno.
This followed a decision by Superior Court Judicial Commissioner (JC) Ahmad Shahrir Mohd Salleh dismissing MACC’s request for forfeiture against Pekan Umno, who was named as the first defendant and 40 other defendants, on Thursday (September 17).
In his ruling, Ahmad Shahrir said that the court found that, on balance of probabilities, the applicant (MACC) has failed to meet the requirements of Section 56 of the Anti-Money Laundering, Counter-Terrorism Financing and the proceeds of illegal activities (AMLATFPUAA) so that the sum of RM700,000 is lost in the account of the first defendant (Pekan Umno).
“Confiscation procedures require strict adherence to the law, since it referred to the constitutional guarantee of article 13 of the Federal Constitution.
“Nothing less would suffice. Under the circumstances, I hereby dismiss the application,” he said.
The JC also 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 just a little more than RM10. , 000 as of January 31, 2017, effectively denies such an assumption.
“Furthermore, the applicant made no attempt to get past this specific assertion of the defendants and I am compelled to find that the applicant had thereby admitted such facts.
“Therefore, I find 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,” he said.
Ahmad Shahrir said that it was not much about the fact that Pekan Umno had spent the sum of 700,000 ringgit received from the disputed accounts of Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak, but more importantly, the applicant did not prove that the sum of money that was frozen and subsequently became the subject of the fourth account, as the defendants contend.
“This is evident by carefully reading the respective account numbers for the first account and the fourth account,” he said.
The JC said that respondents maintained that the sum of RM700,000 was used in its entirety to defray the expenses of utilities, purchase of equipment and other payments for the first respondent and that the account balance that appears in the account of the first respondent on freeze date The order that was carried out did not originate from Najib’s contested accounts.
MACC Deputy Prosecutor Abdul Rashid Sulaiman later told reporters that they will file an appeal on today’s decision.
Attorney Datuk M. Reza Hassan represented Pekan Umno. – Bernama
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