MACC to oppose Ilham Tower’s bid to stop company secretary from disclosing information

• The building, owned by former finance minister Tun Daim Zainuddin and his widow Toh Puan Na’imah Abdul Khalid, is subject to two forfeiture proceedings by the MACC, which are being challenged.

KUALA LUMPUR (Oct 10): The Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC) will oppose the legal bid by Ilham Tower and its operators—Ilham Tower Sdn Bhd and Ilham Baru Sdn Bhd—to prevent its company secretary from providing documents to the anti-graft agency, after the High Court allowed the MACC to intervene in the ongoing case.

The building, owned by former finance minister Tun Daim Zainuddin and his widow Toh Puan Na’imah Abdul Khalid, is subject to two forfeiture proceedings by the MACC, which are being challenged.

At a case management on Thursday (Oct 9) before Judicial Commissioner Wan Muhammad Amin Wan Yahya, here, federal counsel Muhammad Muhairi Mohamed Noh, appearing for the MACC, informed the court that the commission intends to contest the ad interim injunction obtained by the Ilham companies. He also stated that the MACC would be applying to intervene in the proceedings.

Both the plaintiffs (Ilham Baru Sdn Bhd and Ilham Tower Sdn Bhd) and the company secretary’s lawyers did not object to the application. The judge then allowed the MACC to intervene and be named as the second defendant, exercising his discretion to do so without requiring a formal intervention application.

The court then fixed the matter for hearing on Dec 19.

Ilham Baru and Ilham Tower had obtained an ad interim injunction to prevent their company secretary from disclosing company records to the MACC, except for those that are publicly available through the Companies Commission of Malaysia (CCM).

While the ad interim injunction is in place, the companies are seeking a permanent injunction to bar company secretary Rebecca Lee Ewe Ai—either on her own or her workers or agents—from handing over any document which cannot be publicly accessed or is not in the CCM records that she keeps privately, and from sharing it with the MACC pursuant to Section 30(1) (b) of the MACC Act without the express or written approval from the plaintiffs.

The companies argued that the MACC’s notice under Section 30(1)(b) of the MACC Act 2009 was excessive and amounted to a “fishing expedition”. They contend that certain documents sought are private and that the company secretary cannot release them without the companies’ consent.

The MACC’s move to intervene now positions it to formally oppose Ilham Tower’s injunction, signalling the agency’s intention to assert its powers to access documents relevant to its investigation.

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