KUALA LUMPUR – Tan Sri Muhammad Shafee Abdullah has given 24 horus to the authority to return RM114 million seized from Pavilion Residences in 2018 to its owner, Datuk Seri Najib Razak.
The lawyer representing Najib said, the High Court has delivered the verdict that the money does not originate from the misappropriation of 1Malaysia Development Berhad (1MDB) funds.
“There is no need for them to continue keeping the money. In fact, they should be worried to continue keeping the money. The owner of the money is Najib. The longer they keep the money, that is against the law.
“The law has spoken. The money confiscated needs to be returned. The money was seized from Pavilion Residences under the ownership of Datuk Seri Najib in 2018 and it was seized by the police led by Datuk Amar Singh in the most violent way.
“Now, the court has decided that the money seized was not as alleged by certain quarters as if they came from 1MDB. It also could not be proven by the prosecution.
“I give you 24 hours to return the RM114 million owned by Datuk Seri Najib. The assets of my client was seized just like that and it is time for you to return it as soon as possible. We have waited a long time,” he said.
Muhammad Shafee said that he is also shocked by the action of the prosecution who did not make an appeal for the verdict.
“According to logic, they should make an appeal. That is weird to me. Nevertheless, it is alright. They did not say that they want to appeal,” he said.
The High Court has rejected the application from the government to forfeit cash amounting to RM114 million seized by the police in 2018 from Pavilion Residences.
High Court Judge, Datuk Muhammad Jamil Hussin said, the Attorney-General’s Chamber (AGC) failed to prove that the cash is related to the 1MDB scandal.
The prosecution also failed to prove that the money was illegally gained from activities originating from criminal breach of trust.
He said, there was no evidence presented to the court which could implicate the money seized from Pavilion Residences with the 1MDB funds.
However, Muhammad Jamil did not make a consequential order if the RM114 million kept by Bank Negara Malaysia (BNM) should be returned to Najib. -MalaysiaGazette
