Appeals Court Remits RM277,771 Forfeiture Case To High Court For Hearing Of Merits

PUTRAJAYA, June 18 (Bernama) — The Court of Appeal has ordered that the prosecution’s application to forfeit RM277,771 from a textile company and its two directors be remitted to the High Court for hearing on its merits.

A three-member bench comprising Justices Datuk Wong Kian Kheong, Datuk Hayatul Akmal Abdul Aziz and K. Muniandy unanimously allowed the prosecution’s appeal and set aside the High Court’s earlier decision dismissing the application.

The appellate court further ordered that the matter be heard before a different High Court judge and fixed June 29 for case management.

Delivering the unanimous decision, Justice Wong held that the High Court had erred in law by applying Order 41 Rules 5(1) and 5(2) of the Rules of Court 2012 to proceedings involving an application under Section 56 of the Anti-Money Laundering, Anti-Terrorism Financing and Proceeds of Unlawful Activities Act 2001 (AMLA).

He said the High Court failed to consider that the Rules of Court 2012 expressly exclude application where specific statutory provisions exist and do not apply to proceedings of a criminal nature.

Justice Wong further held that Sections 40 and 71 of the AMLA contain mandatory provisions allowing the admission of hearsay evidence derived from statements given by respondents to the police during investigations.

In March last year, the prosecution filed the forfeiture application against Syafwana Trading and its directors, Siti Murni Abu Hassan and Halimah Bakar, seeking the forfeiture of RM277,771.31 held in the company’s bank account under Section 56(1) of AMLA.

The application followed investigations into the movement of funds linked to an alleged scam case in which a victim transferred RM2,348.40 on Jan 25, 2024, into a Hong Leong Bank account belonging to a man.

Investigators later traced the funds through several bank accounts belonging to different individuals before RM3,680 was allegedly transferred into an account linked to the company.

Investigations also revealed that an individual admitted to allowing his bank account to be used by a person identified as “Mat Alif” in exchange for RM200.

On Aug 19 last year, the High Court in Alor Setar allowed a preliminary objection raised by the company and dismissed the prosecution’s forfeiture application.

The objection centred on compliance with affidavit requirements under Order 41 of the Rules of Court 2012.

The High Court held that the prosecution’s application relied on unsupported evidence, finding that the investigating officer’s affidavit referred to in both the deputy public prosecutor’s affidavit and a police officer’s affidavit did not exist at the time those affidavits were affirmed.

During proceedings before the Court of Appeal today, Deputy Public Prosecutor Mohd Fairuz Johari argued that the High Court had erred in dismissing the application on hearsay grounds, submitting that Sections 40 and 71 of AMLA expressly exclude legal rules that restrict the admissibility of evidence obtained during investigations.

Lawyers Muhammad Adam Burhanudeen and Burhanudeen Abdul Wahid appeared for the respondents.

— BERNAMA