Belanjawan NS: Kerajaan negeri boleh buat keputusan tanpa exco

The High Court of Appeal ruled that the Federal Government cannot seize the entirety of a bank's funds solely because a portion of those funds are tainted, stating that the Supreme Court had erred in combining RM360,000 with the rest of the money in the Hong Leong Bank account of LWC Good Service Sdn Bhd. In a three-judge panel decision, Judges K Muniandy, Azman Abdullah, and Dean Wayne Daly upheld an appeal by LWC Good Service Sdn Bhd against the High Court's order to seize RM1.36 million from two bank accounts under the Prevention of Money Laundering, Prevention of Financing Terrorism, and Proceeds of Crime Act 2001 (Amla).

The panel's majority decision, delivered by Muniandy, found that the prosecution had successfully proven direct links between the RM360,000 and the fraudulent Misdi CAP investment, while no evidence tied the remaining funds to that fraud. The court ordered the seizure of RM360,000 from the Hong Leong Bank account but ordered the return of RM863,179.84 from the same account and RM139,329.24 from a CIMB account owned by LWC.

Muniandy stated that "no matter how strong or severe it may be, it cannot replace evidence under the law," and emphasized that Amla cannot be used as a universal tool for theft based solely on a corporation's irregular profile or its partners' financial inadequacies. The court also ruled that unproven theft linked to criminal activity would be an unjust confiscation of assets without legal basis under Article 13 of the Federal Constitution.

The Supreme Court had previously ordered the seizure of the entire RM1.223 million from LWC's Hong Leong Bank account and RM139,329.24 from a CIMB account in the Comoncaps investment scam case, which involved 22 victims claiming losses of about RM3.49 million. The High Court ruled that the court of appeals had overstepped its authority when it failed to separate proven tainted funds from the rest of the bank's assets.