I never received anything since his death, says JJ’s mother

TheEdge Fri, Feb 07, 2020 09:21am - 4 years View Original


KUALA LUMPUR: Aminah Abdullah, the mother of the late minister Tan Sri Jamaluddin Jarjis, said she never received any part of her son’s property since his death in 2015.

Responding to questions from her lawyer Kamar Ainiah Kamaruzaman, she told the High Court here yesterday that there was a meeting among members of the family following Jamaluddin’s death to discuss the division of the late minister’s property, but she did not speak during the meeting.

Aminah, 85, said she remembered being shown an agreement, although she cannot read or write.

Kamar Ainiah: Did you ask about the companies of the deceased?

Aminah: I could not ask.

Kamar Ainiah: It has been five years since his death. Did you receive any portion of his estate?

Aminah: I have not received anything.

During her testimony, she told the court about Jamaluddin’s childhood and the challenging times she had while raising her son, following her divorce from her late ex-husband Mohd Jarjis Md Ali.

She cannot recall when exactly she separated with Mohd Jarjis but said that Jamaluddin, or JJ as he was fondly known, was still very young, and that she was her son’s sole caretaker.

Every day, she would walk her son to an English school about seven miles (11km) away from where they lived.

She said she wanted to enrol her son in an English school to ensure that Jamaluddin would be able to get a job in the future.

Aminah: I thought it would be easier for him to get a job. The Malays back then, many of them did not go to school.

Aminah sewed clothes and also planted cucumbers to support herself and Jamaluddin, adding that her ex-husband never offered her any money to ease their burden.

She recalled several occasions when she was short on cash and could not give her son money, but said that Jamaluddin would comfort her by saying that he does not need the money.

She said Mohd Jarjis only came in contact with Jamaluddin when he was in Form One, as both of them wrote letters to each other.

Jamaluddin told his mother that his father wanted to meet with him, but Aminah did not agree to it.

After completing his primary school education, her son had an offer to study at Sultan Abu Bakar School in Kuantan, Pahang, and subsequently received a scholarship to study overseas in England and Canada.

When he returned to the country, he worked as a lecturer at Universiti Teknologi Malaysia.

Kamar Ainiah: How long did he work as a lecturer?

Aminah: I cannot remember. But he did tell me he wanted to open a factory. He wanted to borrow RM70,000, so he mortgaged my piece of land to set up the factory.

A few years later, after Jamaluddin established Teras Dara Konsortium Sdn Bhd, Aminah said her son had offered her to “attend meetings” and she would get paid RM1,000 per meeting.

She said she attended the meetings of a few companies, and while she could not recall which companies exactly, she mentioned Sawira Sdn Bhd.

Following the completion of the examination-in-chief, Justice Datuk Mohd Firuz Jaffril asked the defendants’ lawyers to proceed with cross-examination.

However, lawyer Chew Chang Min, representing Nur Anis Jamaluddin and Ikwan Hafiz Jamaluddin, said he could barely understand Aminah’s testimony given her thick Pahang accent.

Chew then asked if he could carry on with cross-examination at a later date, once the transcript of her testimony is done.

Mohd Firuz asked that the cross-examination be done on Feb 19.

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 system of estate management.

The plaintiff and defendants have sought mediation previously, but failed to reach an agreement.

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