KUALA LUMPUR – Toh Puan Na’imah Abdul Khalid has posed constitutional questions to the high court here, regarding the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission’s (MACC) charges levelled against her.
The wife of former finance minister Tun Daim Zainuddin filed the reference application on February 29.
She posed questions on whether the Section 30 (5) and 36(2) of the MACC Act had violated her right to not self-incriminate and her right to not be compelled to produce incriminating evidence.
Section 30(5) accorded that a person shall truthfully disclose all information required and cannot refuse to do so on grounds that it tends to incriminate a person or their spouse.
While Section 36(2) says that any person served with notice by MACC’s officer or commissioner must comply with the terms of the notice, or else be charged and face a maximum five years jail term and fine not exceeding RM100,000.
She questioned whether the sections under theMACC Act have also violated her personal liberty and rights to equal protection of the law as accorded under Article 5 and 8 of the Federal Constitution.
She also sought court’s declaration on whether the impugned section breaches her right to a fair trial, as well as asking for a stay of her criminal case at KL Sessions Court, pending this application, apart from other relief.
The case management has been set for March 22.
Na’imah, 67, was charged on January 23 with failing to declare several of her assets to MACC including companies Ilham Tower Sdn Bhd and Ilham Baru Sdn Bhd, one Mercedes-Benz EQC400, where she claimed trial to the charge.
Apart from the car and the tower, she was also accused of not declaring her assets on one Mercedes-Benz SL 500, and properties including the Ilham Tower, a house in Persiaran Bukit Tunku, four lots of land in Bukit Tunku and one lot each in Penang and Taman Tun Dr Ismail, here. – March 5, 2024