Thursday October 19, 2006
Effendi case settled
By M.MAGESWARI
KUALA LUMPUR: A RM10mil bungalow in Jalan U Thant here and RM7mil cash – these are among RM50mil worth of mutaah (gift) that Minister in the Prime Minister’s Department Datuk Seri Mohd Effendi Norwawi is giving his former wife.
Effendi, 58, and Zariah Hashim @ Farida Effendi, 55, have reached an out-of-court settlement over the mutaah, said his Syariah lawyer Muhammad Burok.
Both parties withdrew their court cases related to the transfer of real estate and shares to Farida on Friday.
Effendi and Farida, accompanied by their lawyers, had met Syariah High Court judge Mohamad Shakir Abdul Hamid in his chambers. The judge allowed the case to be withdrawn and vacated yesterday’s hearing date.
“Farida was paid compensation for properties to which she could not get ownership,” Muhammad told reporters at the Syariah Court building here yesterday.
Muhammad said he, Effendi, Farida, her family members and solicitor Feroz Moidunny met on Sept 29 to discuss the mutaah and a settlement agreement was signed the same day.
Muhammad said the agreement was made to settle matters that could not be resolved earlier.
Effendi, he added, was grateful that the court case had been settled amicably during the fasting month.
On Sept 14, Mohamad Shakir gave Effendi two weeks to reach an out-of-court settlement over the mutaah.
The judge had asked Effendi to reply to a showcause order on why he did not comply with the previous settlement order, either on the witness stand or through an affidavit.
Sources said Effendi paid Farida RM7mil in cash and gave her the Jalan U Thant bungalow as compensation for seven lots of “problematic” land in Sarawak that he could not transfer ownership of.
Under the settlement agreement, Effendi consented to give Farida, his wife of over 20 years, a gift of 25 lots of land, two houses in Malaysia, a townhouse in Britain and his shares in Encorp Utility Sdn Bhd. Both parties signed the settlement agreement on Jan 28 last year.
He also agreed to pay her RM50,000 maintenance (eddah) a month until the divorce was final within a three-month period.
Effendi, who is now married to Datin Seri Tiara Jacquelina, divorced Farida by talaq satu last year. They have three children.
In a notice to the court filed on Friday, Farida withdrew all legal actions against Effendi with liberty to file afresh. Both parties would not claim costs.
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