PUTRAJAYA (June 25): The Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC) will file an application to forfeit the 60-storey Ilham Tower, owned by the late former finance minister Tun Daim Zainuddin’s family, in the Kuala Lumpur High Court on Wednesday, June 25.
MACC chief commissioner Tan Sri Azam Baki said this during a press conference, adding that the anti-graft body also plans to file applications to forfeit other assets in Malaysia linked to Daim’s family in coming weeks.
“The MACC will file an application to forfeit Ilham Tower today in the KL High Court, and also, in a week or two, we will also file an application to forfeit the assets of Daim, Na’imah and those related in the country,” he told the press on Wednesday.
The forfeiture action on Ilham Tower follows the seizure of the property on June 5 under Section 51 of the Anti-Money Laundering, Anti-Terrorism Financing and Proceeds of Unlawful Activities Act 2001 (AMLA) — enabling authorities to seize property suspected to be linked to illegal activity.
Azam didn’t say whether the forfeiture will be under Section 55 (if there's a prosecution) or Section 56 (if there's no prosecution).
Back in May, Azam said the agency was seeking to forfeit over RM2 billion in undeclared assets linked to Daim’s family. This includes Ilham Tower, estimated to be worth between RM1 billion and RM1.5 billion.
He then said that investigations on the foreign assets had started based on information from foreign agencies.
On Wednesday, Malaysian prosecutors asked the High Court to stop Daim's widow, Toh Puan Na’imah Abdul Khalid, and her associates from dealing with assets in Jersey worth US$157.5 million (RM667 million) and £85 million (RM490.2 million).
Na’imah is also challenging an earlier court order that froze UK assets worth £132 million (RM758.2 million) and is opposing a new request to freeze RM544 million worth of assets in Singapore.
Azam told the media that UK authorities have filed their own restraining order in court, showing they support the MACC’s actions.
“Yesterday, we received information from UK authorities that they also have filed a restraining order in the UK. This is a new development, where UK authorities agree with our application in Malaysia and will continue the action at the level of UK courts,” he said.
The UK assets include two commercial buildings, five luxury residences and one bank account. The bank account is reportedly registered to the Ilham Foundation, a non-profit focused on charity, arts, culture and education, of which Na’imah is the chair.