In today’s edition of Evening 5 — The prosecution misses the deadline to file its appeal against Datuk Seri Najib Razak and Arul Kanda Kandasamy’s acquittal in the 1MDB audit tampering case. Meanwhile, Sunway’s unit and Hoi Hup Realty win a tender for an executive condominium site in Singapore’ Tengah eco-town for S$348.5 million.
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NewsTranscript
00:00 [Music]
00:04 Dato' Sri Najib Razak and former 1MDB President Arul Kandakan Asami
00:09 remained free of the charges related to the 1MDB audit tampering case
00:14 after the prosecution missed the deadline to appeal their acquittal.
00:18 A three-man Court of Appeal panel led by Judge Dato' Hadariah Syed Ismail said
00:22 that the prosecution was reminded on three occasions to file its petitions of appeal.
00:28 July 21, August 28 and August 30, yet its instructions to file the petitions
00:35 within the stipulated time were not adhered to.
00:38 The prosecution also did not file for an extension of time to date.
00:42 The court struck out the prosecution's notices of appeal
00:45 as they have lapsed and are invalid according to the law.
00:49 Previously, questions arose as to whether the prosecution intended to continue with its appeal
00:55 as it had yet to submit its petitions of appeal which were due in early July.
01:00 This is despite it filing the notices of appeal earlier on March 9.
01:05 [Music]
01:10 Former 1MDB General Counsel Jasmine Liew Ai Suan is set to give up a pencil on paper drawing
01:17 entitled 'Trois Femmes Nues et Busterdome' by Pablo Picasso along with funds and assets
01:22 including securities and investments on deposit in a Swiss Falkenbank account.
01:27 These were listed in a court filing by the Money Laundering and Asset Recovery Section
01:32 or MLAS of the US Justice Department.
01:35 MLAS said this is a civil action in REM to forfeit assets involved in and traceable to
01:40 an international conspiracy to among other things launder money misappropriated from 1MDB.
01:47 The agency said Liew used funds traceable to the misappropriated proceeds
01:52 to acquire the Picasso drawing via Christie's Auction House.
01:57 It also stated that on or around July 1, 2014, Affinity Equity, a shell corporation,
02:03 sent $999,975 directly to an account controlled by Liew at Falkenbank in Switzerland
02:12 held in the name of a company called Riverdy International.
02:16 MLAS said Liew represented to Falkenbank that this incoming remittance was in connection with
02:21 a joint venture that Riverdy had just entered into with Affinity Equity for joint investments.
02:27 Sunway said the Housing and Development Board of Singapore has awarded a land parcel in the
02:38 western region of the city-state to its unit Sunway Developments and Singapore's Hoi Hub Realty
02:44 to develop a 99-year lease term executive condominium project at SGD348.5 million,
02:51 approximately SGD1.2 billion. In a boar's filing, the conglomerate said its unit and Hoi Hub jointly
02:58 submitted the tender for the development, which will sit in the plantation district
03:03 of upcoming eco-town Tengah. The two firms will incorporate a joint venture company
03:08 in which Hoi Hub or its nominee companies and Sunway Developments shall have 6535 equity
03:15 interest to undertake the development. The project, which began yesterday, is expected
03:20 to be completed in five years and contribute positively to the earnings of the group from
03:25 the financial year ending December 31, 2025 onwards. Sunway's shares were unchanged at SGD1.92,
03:32 valuing it at SGD9.65 billion.
03:36 [Music]
03:41 Burma's auto saw its earnings double to SGD100.22 million in the first quarter of FY 2024,
03:48 driven by higher sales volume for the Mazda domestic operations and higher contribution
03:54 from its associated company, Mazda Malaysia. Quarterly revenue rose 52% to SGD1.09 billion,
04:01 mainly attributable to the Mazda Mark domestic operations, particularly the CX-30CKD,
04:07 and the continued fulfillment of the balance back orders for Mazda3. The group declared a first
04:13 interim dividend of 5 cent per share. Moving forward, Burma's expects the automotive sector
04:19 to book growth, underpinned by improvements in supply chains and vehicle shipments,
04:24 though the pace would be slower following the expiry of the sales tax exemption incentives.
04:29 It noted that inflationary pressures, uncertainties in geopolitical conflicts,
04:34 and weaker global growth will continue to weigh on the overall economy.
04:39 Still, it expects its performance to remain positive for FY 2024.
04:44 Burma's share price settled down 3.1% to SGD2.18 today,
04:49 translating into a market value of SGD2.56 billion.
04:53 [Music]
04:58 The Securities Commission Malaysia has indicated that it is appealing against the reduced jail
05:04 sentence meted out by the High Court onto Repco Holdings' former chairman,
05:08 Lau Tiap Hock, for manipulating the company's shares in 1997. The commission's prosecutors
05:14 were cited at an appealing party during case management in the Court of Appeal today,
05:19 during which Lau's lawyer, Chan Yen Hui, also tried to file a notice of appeal against his
05:25 conviction and sentence. The High Court's records of appeal were not yet ready, however,
05:30 so the Appellate Court's Deputy Registrar, Mohamad Khairi Haron,
05:34 fixed November 7 as another case management date. Both the prosecution and defense cannot
05:40 file their respective petitions of appeal until the records of appeal are ready.
05:45 Deputy Public Prosecutor Mohamad Hafiz Mohamad Yusof confirmed the outcome of the case management
05:51 when contacted by The Edge. On February 17, High Court Judge Dato' Azhar Abdul Hamid upheld Lau's
05:58 conviction but cut his jail sentence from five years to one year while maintaining the final
06:03 SGD5 million.