KUALA LUMPUR – In her bid to challenge asset declaration notices by the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC), former deputy public prosecutor Josephine Premla Severetnam has told the Penang High Court that former finance minister Tun Daim Zainuddin could not have abused his power.
In her judicial review application filed at the court, she said the three notices she received from MACC this year ordered her to declare assets from 1997 to 2024 to assist authorities in their investigations against Daim for corruption.
She said MACC’s notices to her had stated that Daim is believed to have committed offences under Section 23 of the MACC Act 2009, which pertains to abuse of power to receive gratification.
However, Daim was not a public official for most of the period MACC ordered her to declare her assets.
“From 1997 until January 1999, and from June 1, 2001 until now, Daim was not a public officer and there could not have been any offence under Section 23 of the MACC Act 2009 that he did, or had or could have done during those periods,” she said in her supporting affidavit.
She also said that up until now, Daim has not been charged or found guilty of any offence under Section 23.
“Based on that, those notices to me are illegal, irrational and involve procedural impropriety,” Josephine said in her affidavit.
Daim had two spells as finance minister – from 1984 to 1991 and from 1999 to 2001.
It was reported previously that Josephine was a director alongside Daim’s son Muhammed Amin in a now-dissolved British company named Newton Invest & Finance.
The former prosecutor, in her affidavit, also denied being an accomplice of Daim’s for the purposes stipulated in Section 3 of the MACC Act which only applies to Daim’s nominees, employees, trustees and those who manage his affairs.
“I am not a nominee or employee of Daim’s, I do not manage his affairs, I am not a trustee for any trust that Daim has created or contributed to,” she said.
Additionally, Josephine also argued that MACC should not use the asset declaration notices as their starting point for investigations.
Instead, asset declaration should be ordered after investigations are conducted, she said.
“The purpose of the notice according to law should not form the starting point of investigations.
“Instead, it should be used to confirm findings after a probe to trace properties related to a crime,” she said in her affidavit said.
Josephine filed the judicial review application at the Penang High Court on May 20 seeking to quash the notices by the MACC.
The application is set to be heard on Tuesday.
On January 29, Daim was charged at the Kuala Lumpur sessions court after failing to comply with a MACC notice to declare assets.
Daim is accused of failing to declare ownership in 38 companies, 19 plots of land in Selangor, Negeri Sembilan, Pahang, Kedah and Kuala Lumpur, as well as six properties. – June 14, 2024