Najib fails in appeal to set aside freeze order in SRC suit

Former prime minister Najib Razak has failed to set aside the Mareva injunction obtained by SRC International and one of its subsidiaries to restrain him from transferring or dissipating any of his assets amounting to RM42 million.

This follows a decision by a three-man Court of Appeal bench comprising justices Yaacob Md Sam, P Ravinthran and Mariana Yahya dismissing Najib's appeal today. They also ordered him to pay RM15,000 in costs.

Yaacob, who delivered the court's decision, said there was no appealable error made by the High Court judicial commissioner in granting the Mareva injunction that warranted the appellate court's intervention.

He said the judicial commissioner, Mohd Arief Emran Arifin, had considered the law and analysed the evidence disclosed in the companies' affidavit before arriving at his conclusion to allow the Mareva injunction. 

In fact, he said, the judicial commissioner had found that there was a good and arguable case.
 
Yaacob subsequently affirmed the High Court's decision granting the Mareva injunction to SRC International and Gandingan Mentari Sdn Bhd to prevent Najib from transferring or dissipating of any of his assets amounting to RM42 million.

A Mareva injunction is a temporary order which restrains the defendant from disposing of his or her assets until the determination of the case between the plaintiff and the defendant.

On March 24 this year, the court granted the Mareva injunction to the companies and directed Najib not to remove, dispose of, deal with or diminish the value of any of his assets in or outside of Malaysia up to the value of RM42 million, pending the final determination of the lawsuit they had filed against him. 

The former Pekan MP is only entitled to withdraw up to RM100,000 per month for his living expenses and for the payment of legal fees.
 
SRC International and Gandingan Mentari filed the suit against Najib last year, claiming that he had committed a breach of trust, misused his power, benefited personally from SRC International funds and misappropriated the funds.

The suit is pending at the High Court in Kuala Lumpur.

Najib, 69, is serving 12 years in jail after the Federal Court in August this year upheld his conviction and jail sentence and RM210 million fine for misappropriating RM42 million in SRC International funds. 

In the proceedings conducted online today, Najib was represented by lawyers Harvinderjit Singh, Muhammad Farhan Muhammad Shafee and Mohammad Arfan Wan Othman while lawyers Nagarajah Muttiah and Clament Tay represented the companies.