PUTRAJAYA (July 24): The Court of Appeal (COA) has set Sept 10 to hear the appeal by Toh Puan Na’imah Abdul Khalid to have her passport unconditionally returned to her by the Sessions Court.

At a case management on Wednesday at the COA, the date was set by the court registrar for the bench to hear her appeal to get back her passport. This was confirmed to The Edge by her lawyer, Rajesh Nagarajan.

Na’imah, who is the wife of former finance minister Tun Daim Zainuddin, had surrendered her passport as part of bail conditions when she was charged and claimed trial at the Sessions Court in January. She was charged with not abiding by the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC) notice to declare 12 of her purported assets.

In March this year, High Court judge Datuk Ahmad Bache disallowed Na’imah's application for the unconditional return of her passport, but said that she can apply to get her passport back from the court at any time.

He added that the one charge Na’imah faces in the Sessions Court was a non-bailable offence, but Sessions Court judge Azura Alwi used her discretion to grant her a RM250,000 bail and the impounding of her passport as part of the bail conditions — and Azura did mention to Na’imah that she could apply to obtain her passport from the court at any time.

“That alone is a bonus,” Ahmad said, adding that usually, no bail would be granted for these charges according to the law.

The High Court judge also noted that it was another bonus that the bail imposed by Azura at RM250,000 was a very low amount, as it is usually set at RM500,000 to RM1 million, for cases of this nature.

The judge surmised that Na’imah is indeed a flight risk.

Ahmad also said that Deputy Prime Minister Datuk Seri Dr Ahmad Zahid Hamidi, former minister Datuk Seri Tengku Adnan Tengku Mansor, and former Federal Land Development Authority chairman Tan Sri Mohd Isa Abdul Samad, all had to surrender their passports when they faced criminal charges.

Zahid had tried, and failed, to get his passport returned to him unconditionally.

On Jan 23, Na’imah was charged in the Sessions Court, and claimed trial to the charge of not abiding by the MACC notice to declare 12 of her purported assets.

Daim himself is facing a charge of not abiding by the MACC notice to declare 71 assets. The Sessions Court had allowed Daim to keep his passport due to his deteriorating health.

They are both charged under Section 36(1) of the MACC Act, whereby, if convicted, they could each face a maximum five-year imprisonment and a fine not exceeding RM100,000.