Pekan Umno’s education bureau chairperson Ibrahim Awang Ismail failed in his bid to settle a 1MDB forfeiture suit against him by paying half of the RM100,000 sought by MACC.
The respondent’s lawyer Nurshafiqa Balqish Jaffri confirmed this with Kuala Lumpur High Court judge Mohd Nazlan Mohd Ghazali this morning.
She said that a letter of representation regarding the bid was sent on July 16, but was rejected, and that a new letter of representation will be sent to the prosecution.
The new letter of representation is seeking a settlement involving the full amount of RM100,000 which the MACC is seeking to seize in a 1MDB forfeiture suit.
A settlement would involve Ibrahim paying MACC the stated sum, instead of having the funds seized by the anti-graft agency.
In open court proceedings today, MACC deputy public prosecutor (DPP) Allan Suman Pillai confirmed that Ibrahim’s defence had sent a letter of representation to that effect to the prosecution.
“I am made to understand that the respondent had sent a (earlier) representation to us.
“Like previous cases, I seek the goodwill of the court to fix (the case for) Aug 23, so we can give a final response (decision) on the representation,” Pillai said, to which Nurshafiqa concurred.
Pillai had sought the Aug 23 date in order to allow the prosecution to decide whether to agree to Ibrahim’s new proposal to settle the case by paying RM100,000 in full.
Nurshafiqa informed the court that the current letter of representation was a new one, as her client had earlier sent a letter of representation on July 16, but that this earlier one was rejected.
Pillai explained to Mohd Nazlan that the earlier rejected representation was for a settlement of RM50,000 of the amount sought to be forfeited.
“The future (current) representation is for a global settlement of 100 percent (of the amount which is RM100,000) with the authorities,” Pillai said.
Striking-out bid on hold
Ibrahim is among 41 individuals and groups from whom MACC is seeking to seize assets worth a total of RM270 million.
Today was initially set for his application to strike out the commission’s bid to seize RM100,000 in full.
When Mohd Nazlan asked about the status of Ibrahim’s striking-out application, Nurshafiqa said her instructions were to proceed with waiting for the outcome of the representation.
The judge then set Aug 23 for the prosecution to inform the court about the outcome of the representation.
The judge reminded parties that if the representation is rejected, then on that day the matter would still proceed.
He said the matter would proceed with either the respondent’s application to strike out the suit, or the prosecution’s application to gazette a notice to call third parties to stake any claim they may have on the RM100,000.
When met after proceedings, the DPP confirmed that Ibrahim had not withdrawn the striking-out bid, and that all parties would merely now await the outcome of the representation on Aug 23.
Pillai added that the new letter of representation had not been sent out yet by Ibrahim, but would be issued out later. - Mkini
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