PUTRAJAYA — The Federal Court has dismissed Datuk Seri Najib Razak’s leave application to set aside a Mareva injunction order that prevents him from dissipating assets worth RM42 million from SRC International Sdn Bhd and Gandingan Mentari Sdn Bhd.
A Mareva injunction is a court order that effectively freezes a defendant’s asset in a civil suit from being dissipated pending the outcome of a legal action before the courts.
Meanwhile, in a civil suit, leave (permission) must be obtained before an appeal case can be filed at the Federal Court.
Today, a three-person bench led by Tan Sri Nallini Pathmanathan, Datuk Nordin Hassan, and Datuk Abu Bakar Jais delivered their ruling via Zoom after hearing lengthy submissions from both parties.
The bench also ordered the jailed former prime minister to pay RM30,000 in costs to SRC International and its subsidiaries.
“Having perused the case law as a whole and having heard learned counsel, we are satisfied that there is no necessity for this court to revisit the test laid down for a ‘real risk of dissipation’.
“The use of benchmarks set in precedent cases is different for each case, and based on the facts of each case.
“We find that the previous judge has taken into account the differences, and applied each benchmark based on the facts of the case matrix, (which) is sufficient to make a determination in answering the question regarding the disposal of assets.
“The law on the issues of real risk of dissipation is clear, and that a revisiting of the test is unwarranted,” Nallini said.
Najib was represented by Tan Sri Muhammad Shafee Abdullah and Mohammad Arfan Wan Othman, while SRC International and Gandingan Mentari were represented by Datuk Lim Chee Wee and Nagarajah Muttiah.
The Kuala Lumpur High Court, on March 24, granted the Mareva injunction to both SRC International and Gandingan Mentari, as well as directing Najib to not remove, dispose of, or deal with, as well as diminish the value of any of their assets in the country as well as overseas, up to the value of RM42 million, pending the final result of a suit filed by the companies against him.
Apart from that, the former prime minister is only entitled to a monthly withdrawal of RM100,000 for his living expenses and legal fees.
SRC International and its subsidiaries filed the suit against Najib in 2021, where they claimed that the latter had committed a breach of trust, power abuse, fund misappropriation, and personally benefited from SRC International’s funds.
Meanwhile, the Court of Appeal bench, led by Datuk Yaacob Md Sam, denied Najib’s appeal to set aside the Mareva injunction on December 6 last year, after finding that the high court had considered the law and analysed evidence disclosed in the company’s affidavit in reaching its decision.
The appellate court had also ordered Najib to pay RM15,000 in costs. — October 5, 2023