PETALING JAYA: The High Court has granted an order barring the company secretary of Ilham Tower Sdn Bhd and Ilham Baru Sdn Bhd from disclosing documents to any third party, including the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC), without the consent of the companies’ director.
The Kuala Lumpur High Court issued the ad-interim stay yesterday following an application filed by the two companies against their company secretary in connection with ongoing forfeiture proceedings that were initiated by MACC against Ilham Tower.
According to lawyer Nizamuddin Hamid, the decision means any disclosure to MACC can only be carried out with the consent of his client, Toh Puan Na’imah Khalid, who is the widow of former finance minister Tun Daim Zainuddin.
In a statement issued yesterday after the court granted the stay, the lawyer said an affidavit affirmed by Na’imah revealed that the company secretary had been served with an order under Section 30(1)(b) of the MACC Act, compelling the disclosure of all documents related to the two companies.
This followed MACC’s move to seize and forfeit Menara Ilham, a property owned by Ilham Tower, despite no conviction being made against any party, he said.
Nizamuddin said that in the decision, High Court judge Justice Wan Muhammad Amin Wan Yahya stated: “An ad-interim injunction is granted to restrain the Defendant, whether personally and/or through its employees and/or agents and/or representatives or any other party, from releasing any documents not accessible to the general public and/or accessible through the Companies Commission of Malaysia system, which are in the possession and/or records of the Defendant, to any third party without the written consent of the Plaintiffs’ directors until Oct 9, 2025, or further Order of the Court.
“The court has further ordered that the cause papers be served on the MACC to allow our client the opportunity to be heard before the court on the two companies’ applications.”
Nizamuddin added that Na’imah reaffirmed the company secretary must act in accordance with the Companies Act 2016 and established laws, under which responsibility and powers are vested in the directors of the companies.
As such, he said, any reckless compliance with MACC’s order would constitute a breach of the law and a violation of the Companies Act 2016.
