THE Kuala Lumpur High Court has granted leave to the family of the late Tun Daim Zainuddin to commence a judicial review against the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission's (MACC) order to freeze their bank accounts and assets.
Justice Aliza Sulaiman ruled that the family had met the threshold required to justify a judicial review after finding that there was a prima facie case of bad faith by the authorities.
She fixed Nov 19 for case management.
During the proceedings, the applicant was represented by lawyer, Datuk Dr Gurdial Singh Nijar while Senior Federal Counsel, Nurhafizzah Azizan acted on behalf of the government and five others as respondents.
In the previous proceedings, Gurdial Singh said, the court agreed with the submission that their application was not malicious or 'mala fide'.
He said, the applicant stated that the MACC investigation was malicious because to date no investigation papers involving money laundering cases were made.
He said, the applicant had proven at the prima facie stage that there were clear indications that the MACC as the respondent had abused its power.
Following this, he said, it was the responsibility of the respondent to provide justification for the action in court because there were debatable issues that required further submissions by the parties at the substantive level.
However, Nurhafizza argued that the main issue, namely the freezing of the bank accounts, was not subject to judicial review proceedings.
Nurhafizza said that the applicant's claim was basically just a complaint that the freezing of the bank accounts was made without basis and that the investigation against them was politically motivated and tainted by mala fide.
Through their application filed on June 6, 2024, Daim and his family sought an order to quash the MACC's action to seize the movable property, which was carried out under Section 50 of the Anti-Money Laundering, Anti-Terrorism Financing and Proceeds of Unlawful Activities Act 2001.
However, Daim, who was also the former Finance Minister, died on 13 November 2024, at a private hospital here, at the age of 86.
Apart from Daim, also named as applicants are his wife, Toh Puan Na'imah Abdul Khalid and their four children, namely Asnida, Wira Dani, Muhammed Amir Zainuddin and Muhammed Amin Zainuddin.
A total of 18 companies were also named as applicants, namely Aad Equity Sdn Bhd, Yayasan Haji Zainuddin, Ilham Baru Sdn Bhd, Anchor Point Sdn Bhd, Kangkung Catering Sdn Bhd, Adrihaniz Sdn Bhd, Syarikat Maluri Sdn Bhd, Amiraz Sdn Bhd, Ridana Sdn Bhd, Daan Sdn Bhd, Maya Seni Holdings Sdn Bhd, Magical Zone Sdn Bhd, Permatang Maju (M) Sdn Bhd, Brainstorms Sdn Bhd, Arida Farms Sdn Bhd, Gajah3 Resource Centre Sdn Bhd, Ilham Tower Sdn Bhd and Selidik Jaya Sdn Bhd.
They named two MACC officers, MACC chief commissioner Tan Sri Azam Baki, the MACC, Prime Minister Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim and the government, as the first to the sixth respondents.
They are seeking a declaration that the seizure of movable property by MACC and all actions and decisions taken by the first to fourth respondents are invalid and void.
On March 4 of the same year, Daim and his family's first application for judicial review regarding the MACC investigation against them was dismissed by the High Court on the grounds that the applicant failed to prove the element of malicious intent by the anti-corruption agency's officers conducting the investigation.
It is understood that the assets were first seized under the MACC Act for 12 months and the order was subsequently extended under AMLA which will automatically expire after 90 days. – November 5, 2025
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