Mahmud Abu Bekir Taib, the son of Sarawak Governor Abdul Taib Mahmud, admitted in the Syariah High Court in Kuala Lumpur today that his shareholding in the company Cahya Mata Sarawak was sufficient to pay the divorce claims of his former wife, Shahnaz A Majid.

Abu Bekir gave this reply in response to a question was posed by Shahnaz's lawyer Rafie Mohd Shafie.

Rafie asked: With your shareholding in CMS, is it sufficient to pay her claim of RM100 million for mutaah (compensatory gift) following the divorce?

The lawyer had to repeat the question again, after Abu Bekir said he did not understand. After hearing the question again, Abu Bekir agreed.

That was the solitary question asked during cross-examination today.

Shahnaz ( photo ) is seeking a claim of RM100 million as mutaah . She has also filed another claim of RM300 million for joint matrimonial assets and a separate claim of RM121 million for their only son's maintenance.

Prior to this it was reported that Shahnaz's witness, accountant Andrew Heng, had testified  that Abu Bekir was worth RM976 million to RM1.395 billion, with shareholdings in 49 firms.

Re-examination of Abu Bekir postponed

Previously, Abu Bekir testified that his ex-wife had  slandered him by making the the statement that he had billions of ringgit.

He also testified that claims of his wealth were part of a  political conspiracy  against him and his father, who was then Sarawak chief minister.

Abu Bekir and Shahnaz divorced in May 2012.

Syariah judge Mohamad Abdul Karim Wahab had wanted Abu Bekir's lawyer to continue with the re-examination of the witness (Mahmud) today.

However, lawyer Zainul Rijal Abu Bakar, who is the lead counsel  for Abu Bekir, said he was not prepared to re-examine his client today.

This resulted in an exchange between Rafie, co-counsel Akbardin Abdul Kader and Zainul Rijal.

Following this, Abdul Karim fixed Aug 17 for continued hearing and re-examination of Abu Bekir by Zainul Rijal.