Prosecution withdraws appeals to forfeit funds from Umno, 8 others

The prosecution has withdrawn its appeals to forfeit money belonging to nine entities, including Umno and Wanita MCA, which are allegedly linked to 1MDB funds.

The prosecution lost its cases at both the High Court and Court of Appeal to forfeit money from Habib Jewels Sdn Bhd, Hattatex Trading, Wanita MCA, Umno, the Kedah Umno liaison committee and four individuals, Perano Sdn Bhd, Binsabi Sdn Bhd and K&Z Enterprise Sdn Bhd. 

The Court of Appeal also ruled against the prosecution and set aside the High Court decision that had allowed it to forfeit money seized from the Pahang Umno liaison committee. 

The prosecution then filed the appeals at the Federal Court, which was scheduled to hear the appeals today.

Deputy public prosecutor Samihah Razali, when contacted by Bernama, said the prosecution had submitted its notices of discontinuance of the appeals on Feb 2.

She said the government had also returned the forfeited money in those cases.

On Sept 2, 2021, the Court of Appeal held that there was insufficient evidence to satisfy the court that the money seized was the subject matter or evidence relating to the commission of an offence or proceeds of unlawful activities.

The court also said there was no link whatsoever between the money in the bank accounts of the respondents and the funds allegedly misappropriated from 1MDB.

The prosecution sought to forfeit RM192,965,413.61 belonging to Umno, RM300,000 from Wanita MCA, RM337,634.78 and RM827,250 respectively from Perano, a company which sells hijabs, and Binsabi which supplies tents, RM100,000 from Habib Jewels, RM138,359.60 from K&Z Enterprise, RM827,250 from the Kedah Umno liaison committee, RM111,590 from Hattatex Trading.

A three-man Court of Appeal bench led by justice Abdul Karim Abdul Jalil also allowed the Pahang Umno liaison committee to set aside a High Court decision allowing the prosecution's application to forfeit RM2,479,300.18 seized from the committee.

The prosecution alleged that the seized money was the subject matter or evidence from the proceeds of an unlawful activity allegedly committed by former prime minister Najib Razak under Section 4(1) of the Anti-Money Laundering, Anti-Terrorism Financing and Proceeds of Unlawful Activities Act 2001 and Section 23 of the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission Act 2009.

Last week, the government also withdrew its appeals in the Court of Appeal to forfeit RM21.7 million belonging to 11 individuals, business entities and political parties, including Pekan Umno and the Johor Umno liaison committee, allegedly linked to 1MDB funds.

The others are Jakel Trading Sdn Bhd, Jakel Trading, the Johor Bahru Barisan Nasional division, Mediaedge CIA Malaysia Sdn Bhd, Sarawak United People's Party, director for Strategic Engagement Media Sdn Bhd Sim Sai Hoon, AGA Touch Malaysia Sdn Bhd, Yayasan Persatuan Bekas Anggota Kemas Malaysia and former land and cooperative development minister Kasitah Gaddam.