Frozen account - court strikes out ex-spy chief's bid for access

Former government spy chief Hasanah Abdul Hamid today failed in her bid to challenge the constitutionality of the MACC freezing her bank account.

This followed the Kuala Lumpur High Court allowing an application by government lawyers to strike out her originating summons, ruling that it had no jurisdiction to hear the matter.

Justice Mohd Sofian Abd Razak made the ruling after hearing lengthy submissions from the applicants, led by senior federal counsel Mohd Iskandar Ahmad, and Hasanah's lawyers, led by Shaharudin Ali.

In his submission, deputy public prosecutor Ahmad Farid Ahmad Kamal said that Hasanah's summons should be struck out as the freezing of her Bank Muamalat account could not be challenged in any court.

Citing Section 42 of the MACC Act 2009, Farid said that any movable asset seized can be held for up to 18 months to facilitate investigations.

"Section 42 says that such seizure cannot be challenged in a civil court or in any court or authority," he said.

Farid added that access to the account will be returned to its owner if there is no forfeiture or any other action against it by the end of the stipulated period.

Shaharudin (right in photo) argued that Hasanah used the bank account to receive her pension allowance, and that it was not the subject of her ongoing criminal breach of trust case.

Farid countered by saying that the account is subject to another MACC investigation.

Both lawyers then got into a heated exchange over whether Section 42 of the MACC Act could be applied to Hasanah's originating summons.

The judge then delivered his ruling, saying that the court would not go into hearing the merits of the case, as it found that it had no jurisdiction to hear the matter.

"I am of the opinion that a civil court does not have the power to hear this challenge (summons), as it is an action that characterises criminal action," he said.

Hasanah, the former director-general of Malaysian External Intelligence Organisation, filed the originating summons in March to challenge the freeze on her account, which was imposed last September.

She named the MACC and the government as respondents. - Mkini