APPEALS COURT DISMISSES REAL ESTATE CONSULTANT, FAMILY’S REVIEW BID OVER ASSET FORFEITURE

PUTRAJAYA, March 26 (Bernama) -- Real estate consultant Amir Shariffuddin Abd Raub and his family have lost their bid today to review the previous appellate court’s decision over the forfeiture of RM3.2 million in assets.

A three-judged panel of the Court of Appeal, comprising Justices Datuk Hashim Hamzah, Datuk Wong Kian Kheong and Datuk Noorin Badaruddin, unanimously dismissed the review application brought by the applicants - Amir Shariffuddin, his family and the company JLA Motorsport Sdn Bhd.

In delivering the court’s decision, Justice Hashim said a review application could only be made under exceptional circumstances, such as a breach of the rules of natural justice or a coram failure in the previous Court of Appeal panel.

He said the applicants in the present case cannot based their review on the merits of the appeal, as it had already been conclusively decided by the previous Court of Appeal panel.

On July 17, 2024, the Court of Appeal previous panel upheld the forfeiture of assets worth more than RM3.2 million including cars, jewellery, handbags, watches, and foreign and local currency from several individuals and companies including the applicants.

The other individuals involved were former Johor executive council member Datuk Abdul Latif Bandi, his son Mohd Fauzan Hatim and daughter-in-law, and two companies - Wash N Chill Enterprise, Alaf Pentawaris Sdn Bhd. They had initially filed for a review of the July 17, 2024 Court of Appeal’s decision, but later withdrew their application.

On May 27, 2019, the Sessions Court dismissed the prosecution’s forfeiture application, ordering the seized properties to be returned to their owners. However, the High Court overturned this decision on Dec 19, 2021.

The High Court had ruled that the prosecution had proven the assets involved were obtained from illegal proceeds, thus ordering the forfeiture of the assets belonging to the individuals and companies.

Abdul Latif, his son and Amir Shariffudin were acquitted and discharged by the Sessions Court in Johor in 2022 on corruption and money laundering charges. In 2023, the High Court upheld their acquittals.

The prosecution withdrew its appeal against the acquittal of Abdul Latif but continued proceedings against Mohd Fauzan and Amir Shariffudin. The prosecution subsequently accepted Mohd Fauzan’s representation for the prosecution to withdraw the appeal.

In today’s proceedings, lawyer Abd Rahim Ali represented the applicants, while deputy public prosecutors Datuk Wan Shaharuddin Wan Ladin, Muhammad Asraf Mohamed and Zander Lim Wai Keong appeared for the prosecution.

-- BERNAMA