SRC RM42m suit: Najib fails to quash Mareva injunction

SRC International Sdn Bhd’s Mareva injunction to prevent former prime minister Najib Abdul Razak from dissipating assets up to RM42 million is still in effect.

The Court of Appeal this afternoon unanimously dismissed the former finance minister’s appeal to quash the restraining order linked to SRC International’s ongoing civil action against him.

The three-person panel chaired by Yaacob Md Sam also ordered Najib to pay RM15,000 in costs to the two respondents, namely SRC International and its subsidiary, Gandingan Mentari.

Back on March 24, the Kuala Lumpur High Court allowed the Mareva injunction bid by SRC International and Gandingan Mentari, as part of the two plaintiffs' main RM42 million civil action against defendant Najib.

Najib is currently serving a 12-year jail sentence in relation to a criminal corruption court case against him involving RM42 million of funds from SRC International, a former subsidiary of 1MDB.

Under the law for civil action, a Mareva injunction is a court order which effectively freezes the assets of a defendant from being dissipated, pending the outcome of a related lawsuit.

This restraining order is particularly effective over liquid assets, such as money held in financial institutions.

During online proceedings before the Court of Appeal today, Yaacob ruled that there was no appellable error that warranted the panel’s intervention.

He said the lower court had correctly decided that the Mareva injunction is necessary as SRC International showed there was a good arguable case against Najib.

Yaacob noted that the lower court also correctly surmised there was a risk of dissipation of the assets, pending disposal of SRC International’s civil action against Najib.

The other members of today’s panel are P Ravinthran and Mariana Yahya.

Najib was represented by lawyer Harvinderjit Singh, while counsel M Nagajarah appeared for SRC International and Gandingan Mentari.

In the current civil action still pending before the High Court, SRC and Gandingan Mentari are suing Najib over RM42 million that allegedly flowed from SRC International into the former premier’s account.

The related Mareva injunction order directed that Najib must not remove, dispose of, deal with or diminish the value of any assets in and outside of Malaysia up to the value of RM42 million, pending the final disposal of the main lawsuit.

Per the order, Najib - who used to be SRC’s adviser emeritus and chairperson of 1MDB’s board of advisors - is entitled to withdraw not more than RM100,000 a month from a bank account or other sources for the purpose of ordinary living and legal expenses.

The SRC suit is among the 22 civil actions launched by it and 1MDB last year - targeting those who purportedly defrauded the two government-owned entities, whether knowingly or unknowingly.

Incidentally, in relation to 1MDB’s separate US$8 billion(RM35 billion) civil suit against him, Najib also faced a similar Mareva injunction order.

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