GOVT AIMS TO STRIKE OUT UMNO SUIT

Party seeking to reclaim RM116.7 million seized in police raids on properties linked to Najib

THE government and police will apply to strike out Umno’s suit to reclaim the RM116.7 million seized in police’s raids at properties linked to the party’s former president, Datuk Seri Najib Razak.

Federal counsel Mohammad Sallehuddin Md Ali, who acted for the government, said the reason for the application was based on the issue of locus standi.

He said they would seek a stay in proceedings pending the disposal of the application.

“The court has fixed Nov 1 for case management and the application (to strike out suit) will be filed before that day.”

Umno’s counsel, Datuk Hariharan Tara Singh, said the party had filed a discovery application on Oct 3 for Commercial Crime Investigation Department director Datuk Seri Amar Singh, who was named as the defendant in the suit, to disclose documents relating to the items seized in the raids.

On Sept 20, Umno’s public officer, Datuk Seri Ab Rauf Yusoh, had filed the suit on behalf of the party, naming Federal Commercial Crime Investigation Department (CCID) deputy director (Intelligence and operations) Datuk Mohd Sakri Arifin, CCID Assistant Commissioner R. Rajagopal, Amar, the inspector-general of police and the government as defendants.

In the statement of claim, Umno said on May 17, Sakri had conducted search and seizure on the premises with a raiding team from the police, and on May 25, Amar announced that RM114 million was seized by the team from the premises.

The party contended that on June 28, Amar announced that the amount seized was RM116.7 million and not RM114 million. Umno claimed that the search and seizure of the alleged items were illegal, unlawful and a violation of its rights under the Federal Constitution. It claimed that the search and seizure were conducted arbitrarily without reasonable suspicion.

Umno said the defendants had breached their statutory duty for having acted in such a manner against the party without any reasonable cause and with malice, intentionally to injure and cause maximum damage to Umno.

The party is seeking that the defendants disclose the list of items seized in the raids and a declaration that the search and seizure on May 17 were illegal.

It is seeking an order for the return of the sum of RM116.7 million to Umno, as well as an order for the return of the RM43.3 million, being the difference between the sum of RM160 million and RM116.7 million, to Umno.