UMNO WANTS BANK HELD IN CONTEMPT
Bank has not complied with court ruling for immediate release of RM192m, says lawyer
UMNO has filed contempt proceedings against a bank for failing to return its RM192 million which was frozen by the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC).
This comes despite a court order which gave the clearance for an immediate release of the money.
The party’s lawyer, Datuk Hariharan Tara Singh, said the bank had not complied with the court ruling which was issued on June 19 for an immediate release of the money.
The government had initiated forfeiture proceedings to recover the money after claiming that it was part of 1Malaysia Development Bhd (1MDB) money which Umno received in 2013.
However, it failed in its attempt to seize the money after the High Court ruled that the prosecution could not prove that the RM192 million came from 1MDB.
The prosecution has since filed an appeal to ask for a stay on the June 19 decision.
The application will be heard at the Court of Appeal today.
Earlier, when the case was mentioned before High Court judge Mohamed Zaini Mazlan, CIMB Bank lawyer Rabindra Nathan said his clients wished to clarify the High Court’s order on the prosecution’s forfeiture application against Umno.
He said his clients were previously not part of the forfeiture proceedings and needed to get a clearer picture of the court ruling.
“We are actually happy to release the money back to them, but the MACC took the position that they had filed an appeal.
“So we are caught between a rock and a hard place.”
Zaini then said it was best for all parties to wait for the Court of Appeal’s decision on the stay application tomorrow (today).
He then adjourned the bid for contempt proceedings to July 6.