JJ's estate not yet distributed, liabilities to be determined, says daughter

KUALA LUMPUR (Feb 20): Nur Anis Jamaluddin, the daughter of the late Tan Sri Jamaluddin Jarjis, told the court that the liabilities of her father's estate need to be ascertained before it can be distributed.

Anis, one of the defendants named in a suit by Jamaluddin’s mother Aminah Abdullah, said that none of the monies or properties had been distributed to date during cross examination by lawyer Kamar Ainiah Kamaruzaman.

She testified that under a draft of the deed of family arrangement, Aminah was entitled to get a house in Setiawangsa, Kuala Lumpur, which she is residing in currently, a piece of property in Mecca, about RM870,000 in Jamaluddin's Employees Provident Fund savings as well as 50% of the RM180,000 in his Tabung Haji savings.

Aminah was against what was outlined in the arrangement, which was discussed during a family meeting in December 2016 and instead asked for the assets to be distributed according to Syariah laws.

Kamar Ainiah: When your grandmother asked for the assets to be distributed according to Syariah law, how did you react?

Anis: I respected her response and told her I would need some time to redo the numbers based on Syariah law.

Kamar Ainiah: Were any of the properties distributed?

Anis: Nothing has been distributed to date.

During re-examination by lawyer Frank Wong, representing the defendants, she explained that the monies and properties could not be distributed for several reasons.

On the distribution of cash, Anis said there are liabilities associated with the estate. She said that an independent party is being approached to ascertain the liabilities.

She noted that the amount of cash in the estate was not reflected in the income tax that Jamaluddin paid between 2004 and 2014, and said that the best way forward was to perform a forensic audit to ensure that any additional taxes can be settled with the Inland Revenue Board.

"With regard to the properties, we are constantly discovering new properties of our father. We found one property last year," she told the court.

However the properties come with missing titles and that there are "a lot of question marks" according to Anis.

"With regard to the cash distribution, the total liabilities is quite large. One more thing that I would like to add is that both my brother and myself would be liable if we had just distributed [the assets] and not prudently consider the liabilities," she said.

Anis also explained why Aminah was not shown the faraid certificate after it was obtained by Ikhwan Hafiz Jamaluddin, who is the witness' brother and the other defendant named in the suit. Aminah was only shown the certificate some time in 2018.

The faraid certificate is a document which certifies the authenticity of the beneficiaries of the estate and outlines the portion of the estate that they are entitled to.

The document, which outlines the value of the deceased's estate and the beneficiaries, would only be released following a request, upon the agreement of all entitled parties.

"Our intention was to show it to her. We wrote many letters to her and wanted to have a family meeting to show her the certificate. It was not something that we wanted to just send to her mailbox as it was very important.

"However, we did not know who her solicitor was at the time, so it was difficult," she said.

Aminah is asking the court to declare that she is Jamaluddin’s lawful mother, and hence a beneficiary of his estate and has an interest in the shares, namely:

• Three million Rantai Wawasan Sdn Bhd shares worth RM1.044 billion (audited as at end-2017);

• Six million Alpine Motion Sdn Bhd shares worth RM233 million; and

• Two Ivory Insights Sdn Bhd shares worth RM80 million.

She is claiming one-sixth of the value of the shares (RM1.3 billion) from the estate according to the Islamic faraid principle.

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