PPUTRAJAYA: Datuk Seri Najib Razak has withdrawn his appeal against the Mareva injunction in 1Malaysia Development Bhd's (1MBD) US$681 million lawsuit filed against him.
Lawyer Siva Kumar Kanagasabai who appeared for the sovereign wealth fund confirmed this when contacted today.
He said Najib's lawyer, Muhammad Farhan Muhammad Shafee, informed a three-member Court of Appeal bench led by Datuk Lee Swee Seng that the former prime minister had decided to withdraw his appeal as it had become academic.
"His lawyer said this because there is already a Mareva injunction against Najib in the SRC International suit," he said.
Other members of the bench were Datuk Dr Choo Kah Sing and Datuk Azman Abdullah.
A Mareva injunction freezes the assets of the person and prevents the transfer of such assets held in banks or financial institutions.
1MDB had obtained an ex parte Mareva injunction against Najib from the High Court on Feb 8, 2022, freezing the latter's assets in relation to their claim of US$681 million against the former finance minister.
As a result, Najib is allowed to withdraw up to RM100,000 monthly from his bank accounts for his expenses. If he requires more than that, he has to apply to 1MDB's solicitors.
In the SRC RM42 million on-going civil suit, Najib lost his final bid to set aside the Mareva injunction after the Federal Court dismissed his appeal on Oct 5, last year.
SRC International and subsidiary Gandingan Mentari filed the suit against Najib in 2022, claiming that he had committed a breach of trust, misused his power, benefited personally from the SRC International funds and misappropriated the funds.
1MDB had obtained an ex parte Mareva injunction against Najib from the High Court on Feb 8, 2022, freezing the latter's assets in relation to their claim of US$681 million against the former finance minister.
On Sept 27, 2023, the High Court dismissed Najib's application to challenge the injunction order on grounds that the plaintiffs (1MDB) had demonstrated a compelling case for unjust enrichment against Najib.
On May 10, 2022, 1MDB filed a combined total of 22 civil suits against various parties, including Najib to recover RM96.6 billion in assets.
The Finance Ministry in a statement said six of the 22 writs were filed by 1MDB, while the remaining 16 were by its former subsidiary SRC International.
The civil suits were filed as an effort by both entities to recover their assets with combined total in excess of RM96.6 billion including approximately RM300 million against various local parties.
The writs filed by 1MDB are against a total of nine entities — including two foreign financial institutions, and 25 individuals.