Src S Rm42m Suit Court Denies Najib S Appeal To Quash Mareva Injunction

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The Federal Court dismissed an application by Najib Abdul Razak for leave to appeal to lift a Mareva injunction that prevents the former prime minister from dissipating RM42 million worth of assets purportedly from SRC International Sdn Bhd.
A three-person Federal Court bench, chaired by judge P Nallini, denied the former finance minister’s leave to appeal bid and ordered him to pay RM30,000 in costs to SRC International.
On March 24 last year, the Kuala Lumpur High Court allowed SRC International’s application for the RM42 million Mareva injunction against Najib, pending disposal of the Minister of Finance Incorporated (MOF) owned company’s RM42 million civil action against him.
On Dec 6 last year, the Court of Appeal upheld the lower civil court's ruling that sought to prevent Najib from dissipating assets of up to RM42 million from Malaysian jurisdiction.
Najib is currently serving a 12-year jail sentence, following a separate criminal court conviction in the RM42 million SRC International corruption case.
In delivering the unanimous ruling on behalf of other court bench member judges Nordin Hassan and Abu Bakar Jais, Nallini ruled that Najib failed to cross the threshold of Section 96 of the Courts of Judicature Act 1964.
Federal Court judge P NalliniSection 96 states that an appeal leave applicant must prove there are novel issues of law that require the Federal Court to hear out in full hearing for the purpose of public interest.
Nallini said that Malaysian case law being relied on by courts in the country over the past 40 years is clear in regard to what requirement a High Court judge needs to consider before imposing a Mareva injunction.
The case law in question is the 1985 ruling in S & F International Ltd v Trans-Con Engineering Sdn Bhd.
In the present matter, Najib's legal team led by lawyer Muhammad Shafee Abdullah contended that the lower court erred in allowing the Mareva injunction due to a purported incorrect assessment that there was a real risk of Najib dissipating the assets before conclusion of the main lawsuit.
"Having perused the case laws, we are satisfied there is no need for this court to revisit the test of real risk of dissipation (for Mareva injunction)," Nallini said.
She added that the lower court - in allowing SRC International's restraining order against Najib - had made the correct assessment of the factual matrix in the case.
Counsel Lim Chee Wee heads SRC International's legal team.
Adjournment attempt by defence
Earlier this morning when the online court proceedings were first called, Najib's co-counsel Wan Mohammad Arfan Wan Othman applied for adjournment of proceedings to another date.
Arfan explained it was because lead counsel Harvinderjit Singh - who was not present during this initial online proceeding - was on medical leave.Harvinderjit is from the same law firm headed by Shafee, and it is understood that Shafee was initially handling a separate court trial this morning.
Lim then informed the bench that it would be difficult for them to raise any objection to this adjournment bid.
However, Nallini did not allow the adjournment bid, pointing out that Shafee & Co is not a small firm, thus surely there is some other lawyer there who is ready to argue the case for Najib today.
Muhammad Shafee AbdullahShe pointed out that the bench has read the parties' entire written submissions and is ready to proceed with the hearing today.
Nallini then postponed the online hearing to around 10.55am, to which Shafee is seen in proceedings introducing parties for today's matter.
When she remarked “glad to see you” in proceedings today, Shafee replied that he would try his best during oral submissions.
Under the law for civil action, a Mareva injunction is a court order which effectively freezes the assets of a defendant from being dissipated, pending the outcome of a related lawsuit.
This restraining order is particularly effective over liquid assets, such as money held in financial institutions.
In the current civil action still pending before the Kuala Lumpur High Court, SRC and its subsidiary Gandingan Mentari are suing Najib over RM42 million that flowed from the MOF Inc-owned company - which was also a former subsidiary of troubled Malaysian sovereign wealth fund 1MDB - into the former premier’s account.
The Mareva injunction order directed that Najib must not remove, dispose of, deal with, or diminish the value of any assets in and outside of Malaysia up to the value of RM42 million, pending the final disposal of the main lawsuit.
As per the order, Najib - who used to be SRC International’s adviser emeritus and chairperson of 1MDB’s board of advisers - is entitled to withdraw not more than RM100,000 a month from a bank account or other sources for the purpose of ordinary living and legal expenses.
The present SRC suit is among the 22 civil actions launched by it and 1MDB in 2021 - targeting those who purportedly defrauded the two government-owned entities, whether knowingly or unknowingly.
Incidentally, in relation to 1MDB’s separate US$8 billion (RM35 billion) civil suit against him, Najib also faced a similar Mareva injunction order. - Mkini

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