THE half-brother of former minister the late Jamaluddin Mohd Jarjis told the Kuala Lumpur High Court today that two of his brother’s children were never involved in any of the three Rompin MP’s companies until he died in 2015.

Mohamad Najeb Ali, 55, sales director of Suasa Muhibbah Sdn Bhd, said in his witness statement that before Jamaluddin died, his daughter, Nur Anis (the first defendant), was not even in Malaysia and was working in Boston, in the US.

“Meanwhile, the second defendant, Ikwan Hafiz Jamaluddin, was working as a manager in General Electric Company, Malaysia,” he said adding that another two of his brother’s children, Nurul Alyaa and Noor Adilla, played no significant role in managing the companies.

He said this during examination-in-chief by lawyer Pawancheek Marican, representing Jamaluddin’s mother, Aminah Abdullah, in her suit against her two grandchildren over their failure to include three company shares worth RM1.3 billion in the list of her son’s estate.

Najeb, who was the first plaintiff’s witness, also said that the two defendants were holding these shares merely as registered owners, not beneficial owners.

Pawancheek asked the witness if he agreed with an amended statement of defence that said that the defendants were appointed directors of the three companies – Rantai Wawasan Sdn Bhd, Alpine Motion Sdn Bhd and Ivory Insight Wawasan Sdn Bhd – when they assumed 100% ownership of Rantai Wawasan.

The witness said: “I only agree to the extent that the defendants held 100% as registered shareholders of the shares in Rantai Wawasan without having beneficial ownership of these shares, which had always remained with arwah (Jamaluddin).”

On the corporate ownership changes made by the defendants after taking hold of the shares in Rantai Wawasan, Najeb said this went against the nature of his half-brother’s close relationship with his mother, who was excluded from the plan.

“The defendants seem to suggest that the corporate restructuring plan does not include the plaintiff. It would be illogical for arwah to do so as he has always been very concerned about our mother’s well-being and interests, from young until his death,” he said.

Najeb also told the court that on March 11, 2009, Anis and Ikwan Hafiz received 2.1 million shares and 900,000 shares, respectively, in Rantai Wawasan from Puncak Inisiatif Sdn Bhd, and the shareholding structure remained the same when Jamaluddin died on April 4, 2015.

Aminah, 85, who filed the suit on January 3, claimed Anis, 34, and Ikwan Hafiz, 32, as joint administrators of Jamaluddin’s estate, had failed to include the three company shares as inheritance in the list of assets in the letter of administration when Jamaluddin died on April 4, 2015, and also failed to enter the shares as a liability since July 6, 2017.

In her statement of claim, Aminah said the two defendants failed to enter the shares with the intention to deny her her rights and interests as a beneficiary.

The plaintiff contended that her two grandchildren had failed to state the estimated value of the shares, worth RM1,384,312,154, two-and-a-half years after Jamaluddin died.

Aminah said Anis and Ikwan Hafiz had also failed to include an apartment in the United States worth RM10 million in the list of Jamaluddin’s assets enclosed with the letter of administration, and had also failed to inform her that the shariah high court had issued her the faraid certificate on Jamaluddin’s estate on October 6, 2016.

Aminah is seeking a court order for her name to be included as a joint administrator of Jamaluddin’s estate, being that she is the biological mother of the deceased, and for the two defendants to pay dividends, bonus and profit from the shares in the three companies.

The hearing before judge Mohd Firuz Jaffril continues on September 10. – Bernama, August 15, 2019.