Syariah Court orders Taib’s son to reveal assets

KUALA LUMPUR, March 12 — A son of powerful Sarawak Chief Minister Tan Sri Abdul Taib Mahmud must list his assets before the Syariah High Court here within the next seven days as part of his divorce settlement proceedings.

In making the decision, Syarie Judge Mohamad Abdullah struck out the preliminary objection made by Datuk Seri Mahmud Abu Bekir’s lawyer, Datuk Zainul Rijal Abu Bakar.

“The judge today ordered him (Mahmud Abu Bekir) to furnish evidence to all documents pertaining to his assets.

“This means both personal assets and company assets of which he holds shares in,” Akbardin Abdul Kadir, the lawyer for Mahmud’s ex-wife Shahnaz A. Majid, told The Malaysian Insider.

The lawyer said that the listing of assets will help facilitate the matrimonial claims made by Shahnaz.
Shahnaz is demanding RM100 million as mutaah (Islamic conciliatory payment) following their recent divorce.

The couple had finalised their divorce last May, after a long-drawn court battle in which Shahnaz is claiming a total of RM400 million as compensation.

“Once the assets are listed down, we will know how much money he has, and how much will be split. Half,” added Akbardin.

Aside from the RM100 million mutaah demand, Shahnaz is also suing Taib’s son for RM300 million in matrimonial property.

The large sums involved in the cases had shone a spotlight on the wealth of the Sarawak chief minister’s family and forced Taib to repeatedly deny allegations of corruption.