KUALA LUMPUR: The hearing of the government's bid to block PetroSaudi International Ltd (PSI) and its director Tarek Obaid from moving over US$340 million linked to 1Malaysia Development Berhad (1MDB) kept in a United Kingdom (UK) law firm, to other entities has been postponed.
The matter was put on hold until Oct 22 to enable law firm Clyde & Co LLP to respond to the government's application to prohibit the use of the money kept in its escrow account.
High Court judicial Commissioner Datuk Ahmad Shahrir Mohd Salleh fixed the date for parties to confirm whether the law firm wants to reply or file an affidavit.
Earlier, deputy public prosecutor Budiman Lutfi Mohamed told the court that Clyde & Co had stated their intention to reply to the application in writing, but the prosecution has not received anything from the law firm until today.
He said in the interest of justice, the firm should be allowed some time to respond to the matter and confirm whether or not they will file an affidavit.
"The issue of service (of the relevant documents) has been settled and there was an acknowledgement of receipt from one Sarah Wheatly from Clyde & Co.
"We will inform the court the firm's decision when the case comes up for case management," he said.
Budiman also told the court that the cause papers had been served to PSI and another UK-based company Temple Fudiciary Services Ltd.
On July 16 last year, the court granted the government's application for an interim order to block the parties from moving the monies linked to 1MDB and kept in a client's account at Clyde & Co, to other entities.
The interim order is to maintain the status quo of the parties until the disposal of the government's prohibition application seeking an order to restrain any dealings on the monies belonging to PSI and PetroSaudi Oil Services (Venezuela) Ltd (PSOS-VZ) which are currently in an escrow account held by Clyde & Co.
Besides the US$340 million, the government, in its application is also seeking unspecified money that was deposited under an intermediate account name, Temple Fiduciary Services, at the Barclays Bank in the UK.
Both the specified and unspecified monies belonged to PSOS-VZ, which was wholly owned by Tarek through PSI.
The application, filed under Section 53 of the Anti-Money Laundering, Anti-Terrorism Financing and Proceeds of Unlawful Activities Act (AMLATFPUAA), named Tarek, PSI, PSOS-VZ, Clyde & Co and Temple Fiduciary as the first to fifth respondents.