MACC fails to stay decision on forfeiture suit against Johor Bahru BN

The Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC) today failed in its bid to stay the execution of a High Court’s decision dismissing its application to forfeit a total of RM957,395.65 seized from Johor Bahru Barisan Nasional (BN) and two others.

This followed the Kuala Lumpur High Court’s decision to dismiss the prosecution’s stay application against Johor Bahru BN, its chairman Shahrir Abdul Samad and its treasurer Raihan Baba.

The money seized by MACC last year, said to be from former prime minister Najib Razak, was allegedly linked to the 1MDB scandal.

Judicial commissioner Ahmad Shahrir Mohd Salleh dismissed the prosecution’s application after hearing submissions on the matter from both parties.

“After studying the application by the applicant (prosecution) and considering the submissions, I find that the application failed to fulfil Section 311 of the Criminal Procedure Code,” he said.

Earlier, deputy public prosecutor Maziah Mohaidi, from MACC, told the court that the application was made pending the hearing of an appeal against the court’s decision to dismiss the prosecution’s forfeiture application at the Court of Appeal.

But lawyer Syahrul Syazwan Salehin said if the court allowed the application for the stay, it would cause it to turn away from its own findings when dismissing the forfeiture application.

“Secondly, it shows the court condones an action that is against the law in allowing the respondent’s property to be held illegally,” he added.

On June 9, Shahrir Mohd Salleh dismissed the prosecution’s application to forfeit the money seized from the three parties.