00:00 [Music]
00:04 Dato' Sri Najib Razak and former 1MDB President Arul Kandakan Asami
00:09 remained free of the charges related to the 1MDB audit tampering case
00:14 after the prosecution missed the deadline to appeal their acquittal.
00:18 A three-man Court of Appeal panel led by Judge Dato' Hadariah Syed Ismail said
00:22 that the prosecution was reminded on three occasions to file its petitions of appeal.
00:28 July 21, August 28 and August 30, yet its instructions to file the petitions
00:35 within the stipulated time were not adhered to.
00:38 The prosecution also did not file for an extension of time to date.
00:42 The court struck out the prosecution's notices of appeal
00:45 as they have lapsed and are invalid according to the law.
00:49 Previously, questions arose as to whether the prosecution intended to continue with its appeal
00:55 as it had yet to submit its petitions of appeal which were due in early July.
01:00 This is despite it filing the notices of appeal earlier on March 9.
01:05 [Music]
01:10 Former 1MDB General Counsel Jasmine Liew Ai Suan is set to give up a pencil on paper drawing
01:17 entitled 'Trois Femmes Nues et Busterdome' by Pablo Picasso along with funds and assets
01:22 including securities and investments on deposit in a Swiss Falkenbank account.
01:27 These were listed in a court filing by the Money Laundering and Asset Recovery Section
01:32 or MLAS of the US Justice Department.
01:35 MLAS said this is a civil action in REM to forfeit assets involved in and traceable to
01:40 an international conspiracy to among other things launder money misappropriated from 1MDB.
01:47 The agency said Liew used funds traceable to the misappropriated proceeds
01:52 to acquire the Picasso drawing via Christie's Auction House.
01:57 It also stated that on or around July 1, 2014, Affinity Equity, a shell corporation,
02:03 sent $999,975 directly to an account controlled by Liew at Falkenbank in Switzerland
02:12 held in the name of a company called Riverdy International.
02:16 MLAS said Liew represented to Falkenbank that this incoming remittance was in connection with
02:21 a joint venture that Riverdy had just entered into with Affinity Equity for joint investments.
02:27 Sunway said the Housing and Development Board of Singapore has awarded a land parcel in the
02:38 western region of the city-state to its unit Sunway Developments and Singapore's Hoi Hub Realty
02:44 to develop a 99-year lease term executive condominium project at SGD348.5 million,
02:51 approximately SGD1.2 billion. In a boar's filing, the conglomerate said its unit and Hoi Hub jointly
02:58 submitted the tender for the development, which will sit in the plantation district
03:03 of upcoming eco-town Tengah. The two firms will incorporate a joint venture company
03:08 in which Hoi Hub or its nominee companies and Sunway Developments shall have 6535 equity
03:15 interest to undertake the development. The project, which began yesterday, is expected
03:20 to be completed in five years and contribute positively to the earnings of the group from
03:25 the financial year ending December 31, 2025 onwards. Sunway's shares were unchanged at SGD1.92,
03:32 valuing it at SGD9.65 billion.
03:36 [Music]
03:41 Burma's auto saw its earnings double to SGD100.22 million in the first quarter of FY 2024,
03:48 driven by higher sales volume for the Mazda domestic operations and higher contribution
03:54 from its associated company, Mazda Malaysia. Quarterly revenue rose 52% to SGD1.09 billion,
04:01 mainly attributable to the Mazda Mark domestic operations, particularly the CX-30CKD,
04:07 and the continued fulfillment of the balance back orders for Mazda3. The group declared a first
04:13 interim dividend of 5 cent per share. Moving forward, Burma's expects the automotive sector
04:19 to book growth, underpinned by improvements in supply chains and vehicle shipments,
04:24 though the pace would be slower following the expiry of the sales tax exemption incentives.
04:29 It noted that inflationary pressures, uncertainties in geopolitical conflicts,
04:34 and weaker global growth will continue to weigh on the overall economy.
04:39 Still, it expects its performance to remain positive for FY 2024.
04:44 Burma's share price settled down 3.1% to SGD2.18 today,
04:49 translating into a market value of SGD2.56 billion.
04:53 [Music]
04:58 The Securities Commission Malaysia has indicated that it is appealing against the reduced jail
05:04 sentence meted out by the High Court onto Repco Holdings' former chairman,
05:08 Lau Tiap Hock, for manipulating the company's shares in 1997. The commission's prosecutors
05:14 were cited at an appealing party during case management in the Court of Appeal today,
05:19 during which Lau's lawyer, Chan Yen Hui, also tried to file a notice of appeal against his
05:25 conviction and sentence. The High Court's records of appeal were not yet ready, however,
05:30 so the Appellate Court's Deputy Registrar, Mohamad Khairi Haron,
05:34 fixed November 7 as another case management date. Both the prosecution and defense cannot
05:40 file their respective petitions of appeal until the records of appeal are ready.
05:45 Deputy Public Prosecutor Mohamad Hafiz Mohamad Yusof confirmed the outcome of the case management
05:51 when contacted by The Edge. On February 17, High Court Judge Dato' Azhar Abdul Hamid upheld Lau's
05:58 conviction but cut his jail sentence from five years to one year while maintaining the final
06:03 SGD5 million.
