KUCHING: The High Court here today ruled that it has jurisdiction to hear the lawsuit filed by the sons of the late Tun Abdul Taib Mahmud, Sarawak’s seventh Governor, against their stepmother, Toh Puan Raghad Kurdi Taib.
High Court Judge Alexander Siew How Wai delivered the ruling after dismissing preliminary objections raised by Raghad and the second defendant, RHB Investment Bank Berhad, who contended that the matter falls under the jurisdiction of the Syariah Court.
The judge noted that neither defendant had, in their original statements of defence, pleaded that the dispute falls within the exclusive jurisdiction of the Syariah Court, nor that the civil court lacked jurisdiction to adjudicate the matter.
“This issue was only raised for the first time during oral submissions in the hearing of the striking-out applications. The defendants subsequently amended their respective defences to plead this point,” he said.
The court found that jurisdiction properly lies with the civil courts, not the Syariah Court.
According to earlier media reports, former Deputy Tourism Minister Datuk Seri Sulaiman Abdul Rahman Taib and his brother, Datuk Seri Mahmud Abu Bekir Taib, sought an injunction to restrain the transfer of shares in a private company to Toh Puan Raghad Kurdi Taib.
Sulaiman and Mahmud Abu Bekir are the sons of the late Tun Abdul Taib from his first marriage to Toh Puan Laila Taib, who passed away on April 29, 2009.
Tun Abdul Taib subsequently married Raghad on Dec 18, 2010, He passed away on Feb 21 last year.
