Dr M wants freeze on PM's assets
Published on: Wednesday, April 20, 2016
Kuala Lumpur: Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad applied Tuesday for court orders to freeze Datuk Seri Najib Razak's assets pending the disposal of his lawsuit against the Prime Minister.In his application filed at the Kuala Lumpur High Court, former Prime Minister Dr Mahathir listed the type of assets held by Najib or the latter's nominees which he wanted the court to freeze, including properties, cash, shares up to the value of RM2.6 billion, or any other value that the court deems fair. Dr Mahathir also asked for a court order to get Najib to declare and to provide details of all his assets within 10 days of the order.
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The disclosure of Najib's assets should be done in a sworn statement and should also include assets that may be held by his nominees, the application said.Dr Mahathir, former Umno members Anina Saadudin and Datuk Seri Khairuddin Abu Hassan filed a lawsuit last month against Najib for misfeasance in public office and breach of fiduciary duty in public office, where the trio had sought for exemplary damages of RM2.6 billion and aggravated damages of RM42 million.The three plaintiffs claimed in their application for the court orders today that Najib had never denied the transfer of funds into his personal accounts and that it had previously been verified by the Attorney-General based on the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission's (MACC) investigation papers.They also claimed that the Attorney-General's same press statement which said Najib had transferred out a sum of money in his accounts to Saudi Arabia allegedly shows Najib's tendencies to move assets outside the jurisdiction of the Malaysian court.
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They said that these court orders were necessary to prevent any reliefs awarded by the court in their favour from becoming "academic" and unenforceable.Alleging power misuse and breach of duty, Dr Mahathir, Anina and Khairuddin had on March 23 sued Najib for alleged interference in government investigations on state investment firm 1Malaysia Development Berhad (1MDB) and the RM2.6 billion political donation to the prime minister.
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In the trio's statement of claim, the three plaintiffs claimed that Najib had attempted to avoid negative repercussions from the investigations, besides saying that the prime minister has no constitutional and legal power to use his public office for personal gain.Stay up-to-date by following Daily Express’s Telegram channel.
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