
Lawyer Nor Husniah Husin, who is representing Kalsom Ismail, informed the shariah high court that parties were negotiating a settlement as he had suggested during a previous hearing.
Judge Abdul Shukor Abd Hamid has fixed Jan 31 for parties to update him on the status of the case.
“All parties have agreed to vacate the trial dates from today until Nov 14 to enable the family members to negotiate an amicable settlement without the participation of lawyers,” Husniah informed Shukor.
The defendants are Jamaluddin’s four children – Ikwan Hafiz, Nur Anis, Nurul Alyaa and Noor Adilla – and his mother Aminah Abdullah.
Farhan Haziq Mohamed, appearing with Nur Hidayah A Bakar, said a consent judgment would be recorded before the judge should parties agree to abandon the trial.
Kalsom, a former dentist, had in early 2018 filed the suit to get 50% of Jamaluddin’s moveable and immovable properties acquired here and overseas valued at RM2.1 billion from the deceased’s estate.
However, Jamaluddin’s mother objected as most of the assets were accumulated before her son married Kalsom.
Aminah, 88, also claimed that her son had solely acquired the properties without any contribution from her daughter-in-law.
In 2017, Nur Anis and Ikhwan Hafiz were appointed administrators of the deceased’s estate to distribute the properties in accordance with Islamic law.
Under shariah law, the mother gets one-sixth of the estate’s assets, the wife gets one-eighth and the remainder is shared among the children.
Should Kalsom succeed in her suit, she will be entitled to 50% and another one-eighth under “hukum faraid”.
Mediation over assets left by Jamaluddin, who once also served as Malaysia’s ambassador to the United States, failed in 2019.
Jamaluddin was killed on April 4, 2015, when the helicopter he was travelling in from Pekan, Pahang, en route to Kuala Lumpur, crashed in Kampung Sungai Pening, Semenyih, Selangor.
Also killed in the crash were the pilot Captain Clifford William Fournier, former prime minister Najib Razak’s private secretary Azlin Alias, businessman Tan Huat Seang, Jamaluddin’s personal aide Razakan Seran, and a woman identified as Aidana Baizieva.
Jamaluddin was an Umno Supreme Council member and the Rompin MP from 1990 until his death.
Stay current - Follow FMT on WhatsApp, Google news and Telegram