A Malaysian High Court has awarded a Briton RM3 million (US$857,143) in damages, after he was prevented from leaving the country for 16 years amid tax evasion charges.

Reports said today that Judge Tengku Maimun Tuan Mat ordered the payment to 69-year-old Ronald Beadle whose passport was "unlawfully and improperly" seized in 1981 amid claims he owed RM22,778 in back taxes.

"His mind and self-esteem had been injured for more than 16 years, the greatest distress being the denial to visit his ailing father and to attend his father's funeral in England," she added, according to the Star newspaper.

The retired army engineer was forced to remain in Malaysia between 1982 and 1998 before his passport was returned after the high court cleared him of the alleged debt. He claimed those years were the equivalent of false imprisonment.

Mental anguish

"Their acts and neglects had caused him worry, stress, anxiety, mental anguish, distress, hurt and helplessness, the judge said.

Beadle, from Derbyshire in England, arrived here in 1961 as a British soldier and married a Malaysian who has since died, the Star reported.

Beadle said he would return to England but wanted to adopt Malaysia as a second home "if the authorities allow me to do so."