JJ’s kids strike out suit over estate

KUALA LUMPUR: The two children of former minister the late Tan Sri Jamaludin Jarjis have successfully struck out a lawsuit filed by their grandmother Aminah Abdullah over the distribution of RM2.29mil from a RM21mil stash kept in the bank.

This is following a decision by the High Court that allowed the striking out application filed by Ikhwan Hafiz Jamaludin, 35, and Nur Anis Jamaludin, 37, on the grounds of res judicata (also known as claim preclusion, which means a particular legal matter cannot be raised again).

In her brief judgment, High Court Justice Hayatul Akmal Abdul Aziz said Aminah, 88, had filed the suit based on substantially similar facts and issues on the administration of the estate of the deceased (Jamaludin) that she had already raised before in a different court.

The judge said when a matter between two parties had been adjudicated by a court of competent jurisdiction, the parties and their privies were not permitted to litigate once more because the judgment becomes the truth between the parties.

“In other words, the parties should accept it as the truth. The public policy of the law is that it is in the public interest that there should be finality in litigation,” she said yesterday.

Justice Hayatul said the plaintiff’s conduct in initiating multiple suits was oppressive and an abuse of court process.

The court ordered for the lawsuit to be struck out and that costs of RM15,000 be paid to each defendant in 14 days.

Lawyers K. Shanmuga appeared for the siblings while Wan Zafran Pawancheek represented Aminah.

Both lawyers confirmed the matter when contacted.

On May 31 last year, Aminah filed the lawsuit against her grandchildren – Ikhwan and Nur Anis – over the control of a purported amount of RM21mil kept in the bank.

The grandchildren were sued in their capacity as joint administrators of their late father’s estate.

According to the amended statement of claim, Aminah said her son had died in a helicopter crash on April 4, 2015 without leaving a will.

She said on June 23, 2017, Nur Anis and Ikhwan applied for letters of administration of their father’s estate at the High Court and were granted the documents on July 6, 2017.

The plaintiff said Jamaludin had cash assets comprising cash savings and deposits held in various financial institutions in and outside of Malaysia.

As at May 23, 2019, the assets amounted to RM21mil.

The cash available for distribution was RM13.7mil after deducting the deceased’s liabilities, totalling RM7.6mil then.

Aminah claimed she was entitled to RM2.29mil, which was one-sixth of the RM13.7mil cash, based on the Islamic faraid system.

However, she claimed that her grandchildren failed or refused to distribute the money and therefore she sought a court order to compel them to do so.

On Aug 31 last year, High Court judge Mohd Firuz Jaffril partially allowed Aminah’s application for a declaration that she was entitled to be a beneficiary of the former minister’s estate and has an interest in companies worth over RM1bil owned by his children.

It was reported that the three companies which she was claiming a portion of are Rantai Wawasan Sdn Bhd, Alpine Motion Sdn Bhd and Ivory Insights Sdn Bhd.

The judge said only Rantai Wawasan was part of her deceased son’s estate.

He dismissed Aminah’s claims on the other two companies.

In the suit, Aminah claimed one-sixth of the value of the shares (RM1.3bil) from the estate based on the faraid system.