KUALA LUMPUR (Nov 17): The Attorney General has filed a certificate of urgency to the Court of Appeal (COA) seeking a stay on the High Court’s decision last week, which had not granted the government a postponement over having to pay RM1.1 million to the family of dead Dutch model Ivana Smit. The High Court’s decision meant that the government had to pay the Smit family by the end of day last Thursday (Nov 13).

The Smit family’s lawyer Datuk N Sankara Nair said they received copies of the AG’s stay application to the COA and the certificate of urgency via email on Monday morning.

“The stay application was dated on Nov 14,” he said.

The Court of Appeal has fixed Tuesday (Nov 18)  to hear the police and government's stay application.

Attorney General Tan Sri Mohd Dusuki Mokhtar was quoted by Bernama on Friday as saying that he believes there are strong reasons or justification for the appeal.

"For now, we will file an application with the Court of Appeal in the near future regarding the High Court judge's decision to reject the government's application to postpone the payment of the damages," the AG was quoted as saying.

Earlier on Friday, Sankara had said that they had given the AG and government 48 hours to pay up or risk contempt of court proceedings being filed against them.

This follows the government and the AG having missed the court-ordered deadline to pay RM1.1 million in damages owed to Smit’s family.

“The government and the AGC have not complied with the court order to make the payment immediately by Thursday,” Sankara said.

On Nov 13, High Court judge Roz Mawar Rozain had dismissed the government and the police’s application for a stay in paying the sum and had directed the government to deposit the sum, together with accrued interest, in the client account of Sankara’s law firm by the end of the day.

Roz Mawar had ruled that the police and government were negligent in their original investigation into the model's death and had awarded the family RM1.1 million in damages.

Read also:
High Court orders govt to pay Dutch model Ivana Smit’s family RM1.1 mil by today
Pay up within 48 hours or be cited for contempt, lawyer for deceased Dutch model Ivana Smit warns govt after court-ordered deadline exceeded
AGC to file appeal to postpone payment of RM1.1m in damages to Dutch model Ivana Smit's mother