The children of former minister Jamaluddin Mohd Jarjis, who was killed in a helicopter crash in 2015, today failed to get leave from the Federal Court to proceed with their appeal in connection with the inclusion of Rantai Wawasan Sdn Bhd shares worth RM1.044 billion in the list of their father’s estate.
Ikhwan Hafiz Jamaludin, 35, and Nur Anis Jamaludin, 37, had sought to obtain leave to appeal against the decisions of the High Court and Court of Appeal which ruled in favour of their grandmother, Aminah Abdullah, to include three million Rantai Wawasan shares in the list of their father’s estate.
A three-member Federal Court panel comprising Chief Judge of Sabah and Sarawak Abdul Rahman Sebli and Federal Court judges Nallini Pathmanathan and Rhodzariah Bujang dismissed their leave to appeal application in a 2-1 split decision.
Rahman and Rhodariah decided the majority decision while Nallini dissented.
In the decision delivered online, Rahman said the leave to appeal was dismissed as the two questions of law that they wanted the court to determine were related to concurrent findings of facts by the lower courts.
He also said that their application for leave failed to meet the threshold requirement of Section 96 of the Courts of Judicature Act 1964.
Nallini dissented, saying leave ought to be granted as there were no concurrent findings of facts by the lower courts.
On Jan 3, 2019, Aminah, 88, sued her grandchildren, claiming that the shares of three companies – the Rantai Wawasan shares, six million Alpine Motion shares worth RM233 million and two Ivory Insights shares worth RM80 million – should be considered as part of her son’s estate.
On Aug 13, 2021, Aminah won a partial victory in the High Court to include the three million shares from Rantai Wawasan in the list of her son’s estate.
The High Court however ruled against Aminah in respect of the other company shares.
The Court of Appeal on Aug 19 last year dismissed both the appeals by Aminah and her grandchildren, and upheld the High Court’s decision.
Ikhwan Hafiz and Nur Anis subsequently filed leave to appeal to the Federal Court against the court decisions on the Rantai Wawasan shares.
Aminah meanwhile did not file leave to appeal against the court decisions relating to the Alpine Motion and Ivory Insights shares.
Lawyers Saheran Suhendran, Frank Wong and Rodney Gan represented Ikhwan Hafiz and Nur Anis, while counsels Zainur Zakaria, Pawancheek Marican and Suzilawati Ismail appeared for Aminah.
Jamaluddin, better known as JJ, a former science, technology and innovation minister, was killed in the helicopter crash while travelling from Pekan, Pahang, to Kuala Lumpur.