PUTRAJAYA: The government has again failed in its bid to confiscate millions of ringgit from Umno, Wanita MCA and six other entities.
The money was allegedly linked to the 1Malaysia Development Bhd (1MDB) scandal.
In addition, it was also ordered to return RM2,479,300.18 which was seized from the Pahang Umno Liaison Committee.
This follows the unanimous decision of a three-member Court of Appeal bench led by judge Datuk Abdul Karim Abdul Jalil today.
During the proceeding which was conducted via Zoom, the court dismissed the prosecution's appeal against the High Court's decisions rejecting its forfeiture suits against multiple political and business entities.
Besides Umno and Wanita MCA, the other entities which are the respondents are Perano Sdn Bhd, Binsabi Sdn Bhd, Habib Jewels Sdn Bhd, K&Z Enterprise Sdn Bhd, Kedah UMNO Liaison Committee and Hattatex Trading.
Judge Datuk Hadhariah Syed Ismail who read the judgement said the court found that the trial judges in their decision did not commit any error of law or fact that warrants the Appeal Court's intervention.
For the political party category, she said based on evidence, there were no good reasons to disturb the finding of fact made by the High Court judges.
She said the trial judges had concluded that they were not satisfied that the money sought to be forfeited was a subject matter relating to an offence under Section 4(1) of the Anti-Terrorism Financing and Proceeds of Unlawful Activities Act 2001 (Amlatfapuaa).
For the business category, Hadhariah said the court agreed that the monies received from Datuk Seri Najib Razak were from payments for services rendered by the respondents to the former prime minister.
"The respondents supported their case with documentary proof such as invoices.
"They had no knowledge, no reason to suspect that the monies they received from Najib were proceeds of unlawful activities," she said.
She added that the trial judges opined that it was most unfair to forfeit the respondents' monies in the absence of proof by the prosecution that the monies were proceeds of unlawful activities.
"We find no good reasons to disturb these findings.
"Accordingly, we dismiss the prosecution's appeals. We affirm the High Court's orders," the judge said in a brief judgement.
In relation to the Pahang Umno Liaison Committee's appeal against the High Court's decision allowing the prosecution to forfeit RM2,479,300.18 from it, the court found that the trial judge had erred.
The High Court judge, Hadhariah said, had made an error when he disregarded the fact that the money which came from Najib had been spent and that the monies seized were from other sources and were lawful money.
"We allow the appellant's appeal and set aside the High Court's order," she said.
Judge Datuk Abu Bakar Jais also presided.
The prosecution was appealing against the decision of the Kuala Lumpur High Courts in dismissing its application to forfeit RM192,965,413.61 belonging to Umno; Wanita MCA (RM300,000), Perano, a company that sells hijabs, and Binsabi which supplies tents, involved RM337,634.78 and RM827,250, respectively; Habib Jewels (RM100,000); K&Z Enterprise (RM138,359.60); Kedah Umno Liaison Committee (RM1.05 million) and Hattatex Trading (RM111,590).
On June 21, 2019, the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC) filed civil forfeiture applications against 41 people and entities, including Umno, to recover RM270 million allegedly taken from 1MDB.
MACC's then chief commissioner, Latheefa Koya, said the funds were allegedly transferred from Najib's personal Ambank account.