MACC's RM100k 1MDB-linked forfeiture suit against Kasitah Gaddam dismissed

The High Court in Kuala Lumpur today dismissed the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission's (MACC) RM100,000 forfeiture suit against former land and cooperative development minister Kasitah Gaddam (above).

The MACC had earlier initiated the RM100,000 forfeiture suit against Kasitah on grounds that the money came from 1MDB.

Judicial Commissioner Ahmad Shahrir Mohd Salleh said that it was not disputed that Kasitah received the amount in his CIMB Bank Berhad account from former prime minister Najib Abdul Razak's account, through a cheque dated Feb 2, 2012.

However, the applicant has failed to show that the sum of RM100,000 in the respondent's CIMB Bank Berhad account, which the MACC had seized in 2018, is the proceeds of unlawful activity.

"I find that, on the balance of probabilities, the applicant has not provided sufficient evidence to show that the seized sum of RM100,000 in the respondent's CIMB Bank Berhad account is, in fact, the proceeds of unlawful activity.

"Whereas it is most probable, in my mind, that the respondent's account balance, inclusive of the seized sum of RM100,000, is part of the pension payment," Ahmad Shahrir ruled.

For the record, Kasitah had maintained that the seized sum of RM100,000 in his CIMB Bank account is not the RM100,000 he received from Najib, but that it was his own pension payment and other deposits.

Deputy public prosecutor Maziah Mohaide said the prosecution would file a stay of execution on the High Court's ruling today.

Sasila Basri and Samilah Ab Wahab represented Kasitah.

In June last year, the then MACC chief commissioner Latheefa Koya said that the graft buster had filed civil forfeiture suits against 41 respondents to forfeit RM270 million allegedly linked to the 1MDB scandal.

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