It was reported in the New Straits Times today (30 Jan 2008) that the case of an inheritance of an insurance payout left by a woman’s son who died after converting to Islam has been rejected by the woman. Read my earlier report here.
According to the woman’s lawyer, an undisclosed amount had been offered to her to settle the case but the settlement proposal was a “fairy tale offer that just cannot be accepted” as the amount was too little.
John Louis O’Hara, the High Court judge who is hearing the dispute, has adjourned the case to 14 Mar after the parties agreed to get further instructions from their clients on a counter-proposal.
The woman, Rukumony, works as a cleaner and has been involved in the seven-year legal battle to claim her son’s insurance payout.
In her suit, Rukumony named Koperasi Angkatan Tentera Malaysia Berhad and Amanah Raya Berhad, a government-owned trustee company, as defendants while Majlis Agama Islam Wilayah Persekutuan is acting as an intervener.
Rukumony claimed the cooperative had taken out a policy on her son, E. Ragu, before he converted to Islam on 31 Dec 1999. In the policy, she was named as a beneficiary under a trust deed.
Later, when her son died on 2 Aug 2000, the cooperative refused to pay her the RM56,300 and instead, deposited the money into Amanah Raya.
The cooperative’s stand was that Rukumony could not inherit the money because, under syariah, a non-Muslim cannot inherit the property of a Muslim.