PUTRAJAYA: The High Court in Kuala Lumpur will hear the Pekan Umno division’s challenge against a move by the government to forfeit RM700,000 from the entity’s frozen bank account.
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The money is allegedly linked to 1MDB.
This came about after the lawyer for Pekan Umno, M Reza Hassan, withdrew his appeal at the Court of Appeal today.
Hearing before High Court judge Mohd Nazlan Mohd Ghazali has been fixed for Feb 28.
A three-member Court of Appeal bench chaired by Hamid Sultan Abu Backer today said the parties involved had agreed to argue all issues raised here and in the High Court.
“We do not want to hear issues in an interspersed manner,” he said before striking out the appeal brought by the Pekan Umno division.
Earlier, the bench allowed Reza and deputy public prosecutor Nahrah Dollah to come to an agreement to return to the High Court to argue their case.
On Aug 30, Nazlan dismissed an application by the Pekan Umno division to set aside the forfeiture notice filed by the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC).
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“The court dismisses the application by the respondent (Pekan Umno division). However, the court orders the prosecution to file an amended notice that complies with Section 9(C) of the Societies Act 1966 within seven days from today,” Nazlan had ruled.
Nazlan had also ordered deputy public prosecutor Allan Suman Pillai from the MACC to amend the name of the Umno Pekan division to its office bearers in the new suit.
Unhappy with the High Court ruling, Pekan Umno, whose chairman is former prime minister Najib Razak, filed an appeal.
Earlier, on Aug 23, the division had filed an application to strike out the notice filed by the prosecution as the application had named the wrong person.
The government filed the suit under Section 56 (1) of the Anti-Money Laundering, Anti-Terrorism Financing and Proceeds of Unlawful Activities Act 2001 (Amla).
In early June, MACC chief Latheefa Koya told a press conference that the prosecution filed forfeiture applications against 41 respondents in a bid to recover about RM270 million related to 1MDB.
She said MACC acted under Amla as it believed the sums concerned were actually 1MDB funds transferred from the accounts of Najib. -FMT