KUALA LUMPUR, Feb 17 — Toh Puan Na’imah Abdul Khalid, the wife of former finance minister Tun Daim Zainuddin, has applied to the High Court here for the return of her passport, which was impounded pending the disposal of her asset disclosure case.
Malaysiakini reported that Na’imah’s lawyer Rajesh Nagaran confirmed the filing of the application yesterday.
“The application is set for hearing before the Kuala Lumpur High Court (Criminal) 1 on Monday next week,” he told the news portal.
On January 23, Na’imah was ordered to surrender her passport to the Sessions Court as part of bail conditions linked to her criminal charge of alleged failure to abide by a Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC) notice to declare her assets.
The 66-year-old claimed trial to the charge for not declaring her assets, including Menara Ilham and several other properties in Kuala Lumpur and Penang under Section 36(2) of the MACC Act 2009. She was released on RM250,000 bail with one surety.
The particular section covers the offence of wilfully neglecting or failing to comply with the terms of a notice issued by the MACC to give a written statement on oath or affirmation on their assets.
If convicted, she can be punished with a maximum five-year jail term and a maximum fine of RM100,000.
On January 29, Daim was also charged in the Sessions Court with a similar offence involving one bank account, seven luxury vehicles, 38 companies and 25 properties.
Na’imah and her two sons, Muhammed Amir Zainuddin Daim and Muhammed Amin Zainuddin Daim, were earlier summoned to the MACC headquarters in Putrajaya on January 10 to have their statements recorded.
The MACC began investigating Daim last year, attributing it to information obtained from the Pandora Papers that was first leaked and exposed in 2021 by the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists that identified the 86-year-old businessman as among several high-profile Malaysians with links to offshore tax havens preferred by the rich and powerful.
Several other information leaks since then have linked Daim and his family to offshore business entities and trusts worth at least £25 million (about RM141 million).
Daim’s sons, Muhammed Amir and Muhammed Amin, were reportedly named as owners of a British Virgin Islands firm Newton Invest & Finance Limited in 2007 when they were nine and 12 respectively.
By 2017, when the brothers were in their early 20s, they were owners of several offshore firms set up in tax havens, including Splendid International Ltd (BVI) which held London properties worth £12 million (about RM65 million at 2017 exchange rates).
Besides the two BVI firms, the brothers and their mother are also said to be shareholders in several other offshore companies which hold properties in London.
