KUALA LUMPUR, Jan 26 — The High Court here has granted a stay of enforcement on the more than RM37 million in damages awarded to the family of Pastor Raymond Koh over his abduction nine years ago.

Justice Mahazan Mat Taib ruled that there were “special circumstances” to warrant the stay, which will remain in effect pending the government’s appeal at the Court of Appeal, Free Malaysia Today reported.

She held that allowing the payment to proceed now would expose the government to significant financial risk.

The government had sought to suspend the judgment, arguing that the large sum involved public funds and that it would be difficult to recover the money if its appeal were to succeed.

Last year, the High Court ruled that police officers were involved in Koh’s 2017 abduction.

As a result, it ordered the government to pay over RM33 million for the “wrongful acts” committed against Koh, along with RM4 million in general and aggravated damages to his wife, Susanna Liew, and RM250,000 in costs.

A key condition of the original ruling was that the RM33 million awarded for the wrongful acts against Koh must be kept in a trust and cannot be disbursed to his family until his whereabouts are determined.