A three-member bench led by Chief Judge of Malaya Hasnah Hashim rejected the wife’s contention that the burden of proving all the matrimonial assets rested with her businessman husband.
In broad grounds delivered on Tuesday, Hasnah said the burden of proof has always remained with a claimant.
The Federal Court also affirmed the Court of Appeal’s ruling that the “duration of marriage” — used in determining the division of matrimonial assets — ends at the date of physical separation, not the date of the trial court’s decision, which may occur years later.
The panel, which included Justices Nallini Pathmanathan and Vazeer Alam Mydin Meera, also ordered the wife to pay RM150,000 in costs to the husband.
The apex court also affirmed the findings of the Court of Appeal last year, which reduced the wife’s share of matrimonial assets from RM87.8 million to RM19.9 million.
The Court of Appeal had also set aside the monthly RM20,000 maintenance to be paid by the husband.
Lawyers Ambiga Sreenevasan, Peter-Douglas Ling, Emilia Van Buerle, Sarah Ho, Manpreet Kaur Sandhu and Anishaa Sundramorthy represented the husband in the Federal Court, with Cyrus Das, RK Sharma, Chew Jia Ying and Diana Sharma appearing for the wife.
The couple were married in 1997 and are parents to two boys, both now above the age of 18.
The wife filed for a judicial separation just before she left the matrimonial home in late 2015.
After a 28-day trial and with only the couple giving evidence, the High Court in Kuala Lumpur held that the marriage had irretrievably broken down.
The High Court ordered the husband to provide monthly spousal maintenance to his wife and to hand over RM87.8 million in movable and immovable matrimonial assets.
Both the husband and the wife appealed the High Court ruling.
It was argued before the Court of Appeal that the High Court had failed to distinguish between assets acquired before and during the couple’s marriage.
The appeals court also set aside the High Court’s provision for monthly maintenance, ruling that the assets awarded to the wife were sufficient to sustain her.