Daim's wife succeeds in permanently getting back passport

Na'imah Abdul Khalid has succeeded in having her court-impounded passport permanently returned to her.

The Court of Appeal today allowed the appeal by the wife of former finance minister Daim Zainuddin, ruling that the lower court erred in allowing the impounding of the travel document as part of bail terms.

Na'imah's counsel Rajesh Nagarajan confirmed the ruling by the appellate bench, chaired by judge Azizah Nawawi, comprising member judges Azman Abdullah and Azmi Ariffin.

The lawyer said the appellate court found no evidence to justify the imposition of the additional condition of surrendering the passport so that Na'imah could be released on RM250,000 bail.

The bench, he said, took note that there was no supporting evidence or explanation given to justify the additional bail term.

Rajesh added that the bench found the lower court erred as there were no valid and reasonable reasons given for the impoundment.

In January, Na’imah pleaded not guilty to a criminal charge of alleged failure to abide by an MACC notice to disclose her assets.

The 66-year-old's charge was framed under Section 36(2) of the MACC Act 2009.

She was accused of committing the offence by giving a sworn written statement that did not comply with an MACC notice under Section 36(1) of the MACC Act.

Accused of committing the offence between Dec 13 and 14 last year, she may be jailed for up to five years and fined up to RM100,000.

Land, properties and luxury vehicles

The assets she allegedly did not disclose involved multiple plots of land, properties, and Mercedes-Benz vehicles.

According to the annexure attached to the charge and read out in court, among the eight properties allegedly involved are Ilham Tower in Kuala Lumpur, a house in Bukit Tunku, Kuala Lumpur, as well as six plots of land - five in Kuala Lumpur and one in Penang.

Among other alleged items involved in the non-disclosure are concerning two companies, namely Ilham Tower Sdn Bhd and Ilham Baru Sdn Bhd.

Daim previously faced a similar criminal charge before the lower court.

However, on Nov 13, the 86-year-old passed away at Assunta Hospital in Petaling Jaya.

The criminal court then discharged and acquitted the deceased of the charge.

Lawyers Gurdial Singh Nijar, Abraham Au Tian Hui, ⁠Sachpreetraj Singh Sohanpal, Amanda Sonia Mathew and ⁠Izyan Azimi also acted for Na'imah.

Deputy public prosecutor Wan Shaharuddin Wan Ladin leads the prosecution team, which also comprises Wan Ahmad Feisal, Law Chin How, Mohamad Fadhly Mohamad Zamry, and Maziah Mohaide.

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