KUALA LUMPUR (July 11): There is no miscarriage of justice in charging Toh Puan Na'imah Abdul Khalid Na'imah, the widow of Tun Daim Zainuddin, for failure to declare her assets, the prosecution argued on Friday.

When it comes to corruption cases, even a witness will skirt around or "hide behind" their right to remain silent, deputy public prosecutor Law Chin How said on Friday during Na'imah's application in the High Court. There would be nowhere for investigators to rely on for their investigations, he said.

Imposing criminal sanctions on a witness who failed to assist and comply with investigations was in line with the intention of the law, he said.

Na'imah is seeking the High Court’s intervention to revise a lower court's decision regarding the constitutionality of the charge against her. In February, Sessions Court judge Azura Alwi ruled that there was no merit to Na'imah's application and dismissed it.

Nai'mah then filed a revision application to review the decision. She is contending that charging her, who was a witness at the onset of an investigation, was unconstitutional as it goes against her right to remain silent and the right to not incriminate oneself, among others.

She wants the Federal Court to make a determination on the portion of the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission Act which criminalises the failure to comply with investigators. Under the law, one can be imprisoned up to five years as well as a fine up to RM100,000.

On Friday, Na'imah's counsel Datuk Dr Gurdial Singh Nijar contended that it was not for the prosecution to determine if there were constitutional issues with the charge. That would be up to the country’s apex court, he said.

Abraham Au, Na'imah's other counsel, added that the entire application before the High Court was not about any particular incriminating statement and it would be inaccurate for the prosecution to conclude that there is no miscarriage at the current juncture.

Nai'mah was charged in January last year under Section 36(2) of the MACC Act for failure to declare her assets.

Among the 12 assets that she did not declare were a Mercedes Benz EQC400 and Mercedes Benz 500 SL AUTO series, seven properties in Kuala Lumpur and one in Penang, and Ilham Tower Sdn Bhd and Ilham Baru Sdn Bhd. She has claimed trial.

She is also challenging the notion that she had not been cooperative with the authorities.

She says that she had already made a statutory declaration stating that the information she had already given to the MACC was all she could recall at that point in time as some information they were seeking were from almost four decades ago.

High Court judge K Muniandy has set Aug 12 to deliver his decision.