Judge Alexander Siew dismissed preliminary objections raised by the defendants – Raghad Kurdi Taib and RHB Investment Bank (RHB IB) – who claimed that the matter falls under the shariah court’s jurisdiction.

The defendants claimed that the subject matter involved joint matrimonial property, better known as “harta sepencarian”, under Islamic law.

Siew, however, said that the issue of jurisdiction was never raised by the defendants’ in their original pleadings, The Borneo Post reported.

The issue was only brought up during oral submissions on the defendants’ applications to strike out the suit, he said.

Taib’s sons, Sulaiman Abdul Rahman and Mahmud Abu Bekir, claimed that the 50 million shares were unlawfully removed from the estate of their late mother, Laila Taib, and transferred to Raghad.

Laila, who held 111 million Cahya Mata Sarawak shares, died in 2009.

Raghad, who claimed that the transfer of the shares to herself was legal, claimed that her late husband was entitled to a share of Laila’s assets under the principle of “harta sepencarian”.

The High Court, however, ruled against this as it found no evidence to support such a claim. “The defendants did not call any witnesses at the trial, and there were no documents to show any such claim,” Siew said.

The judge ordered Raghad and RHB IB to respectively pay costs of RM20,000 and RM10,000 to the plaintiffs.

Siew subsequently fixed April 25 for a ruling on the defendants’ application to strike out the suit.

Lawyers Alvin Chong, Jonathan Tay, and Ezekiel John Chang appeared for the plaintiffs. Alvin Yong, Shirleen Ong and Wong Chung Ming acted for Raghad, and the bank was represented by Lesley Ling and Kueh Ning.