KUALA LUMPUR – Toh Puan Na’imah Abdul Khalid, the wife of former finance minister Tun Daim Zainuddin, will not get her passport back after the high court here today rejected her application for the permanent return of her travel document.
Judge Datuk Ahmad Bache today said he agreed with the deputy public prosecutor that Na’imah posed a flight risk.
“The court agrees with the DPP that if she is given her passport, there is the possibility that they will both go out of the country and not return,” Ahmad said in reference to Daim.
For the record, Daim, who has been similarly charged with failing to declare his assets to MACC, did not have his passport impounded.
Na’imah, when met outside the court later, said she would be appealing against the court’s decision not to release her passport.
The impoundment order on her passport had been set by the sessions court on January 23 after Na’imah, 67, claimed trial on a charge of failing to declare her assets to the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC).
She was charged under Section 36(2) of the MACC Act 2009 for allegedly giving a sworn written statement on December 1, 2023, that did not comply with the notice terms served to her under Section 36(1)(b) of the same legislation.
The impoundment of her travel document is an additional condition for her release on RM250,000 bail until her case is disposed of.
Na’imah turned to the high court on February 16 to reverse the impoundment order.
She was accompanied today by her two sons, Muhammad Amir Zainuddin Daim and Muhammad Amin Zainuddin Zaim.
She was represented by lawyers M. Puravalen, Nizammudin Hamid, Rajesh Nagarajan and Sachpreetraj Singh, and M. Moganasundari.
The DPPs in the case were Datuk Wan Shaharuddin Wan Ladin, Ahmad Feisal Mohd Azmi, Mohamad Fadly Mohd Zambry, Maziah Mohaide and Fatin Farhana Ismail. – March 22, 2024
