Wife not divorced as she refused to be divorced - Mahmud Abu Bekir

Because of that, he did not divorce Shahnaz, said Mahmud who admitted to owning 20 companies, the source of his wealth worth RM1.185 billion.

Mahmud made the revelation when questioned by counsel Dr Mohd Rafie Shafie, acting for Shahnaz, as to why he did not divorce Shahnaz straight away as the "kuasa talak" (power to divorce wife) was in his hands.

"If was because she (Shahnaz) did not want a divorce," he said at the court hearing of Shahnaz's RM100 million muta'ah (consolation payment) claim filed by her.

Mahmud said he had mentioned about divorce three times to his estranged wife but she still refused to be divorced while they had already been living separately for 12 years and four months.

Mahmud, the son of Sarawak Yang di-Pertua Negeri, Tan Sri Abdul Taib Mahmud, said he had never felt guilty about living separately from Shahnaz and about not returning home.

On May 11, 2011, the Syariah High Court confirmed the couple's divorce of "talak satu". They had married on Jan 9, 1992 and have a son, Raden Murya, 22.

In his testimony, Mahmud disagreed with counsel Mohd Rafie's suggestion that he had refused to divorce Shahnaz as he wanted to protect his family's image.

He also disagreed with counsel's contention that he had politicised the muta'ah claim, while Shahnaz as the plaintiff, was only claiming her rights after she was treated cruelly and divorced without a valid reason.

Earlier during the proceeding, Mahmud informed that he had appointed a public relations company to relay information to the media from time to time, on the muta'ah claim hearing.

He said he had paid RM35,000 a month with tax of six per cent to GRA Communication Sdn Bhd, helmed by its managing director, Ghazalie Abdullah.

He added that the appointment contract was for two years from June 1, 2014 to May 31, 2016, where he paid RM890,400 for the contract..