Wednesday, 15 Feb 2012

PUTRAJAYA: The six-year legal battle between former Malaysian Airline System Bhd (MAS) chairman Tan Sri Tajudin Ramli and Pengurusan Danaharta Nasional Bhd has been settled out of court.

Lim Kian Leong, the counsel representing Tajudin, told a three-man panel of the Court of Appeal here yesterday that his client and Pengurusan Danaharta as well as its two subsidiaries had reached an out of court settlement for Danaharta's claim of RM589.1mil.

However, the terms of settlement were not revealed.

This settlement between the two parties was reached after Lim requested the court to adjourn on Monday to resolve some procedural matters regarding the implementation of the settlement.

The Court of Appeal was initially scheduled to hear the appeal brought by Tajudin from Feb 13 to Feb 15. The Kuala Lumpur High Court in 2009 ordered Tajudin to pay RM589mil to Pengurusan Danaharta which managed the unpaid loans following the debts Tajudin had incurred for the purchase 32% MAS shares.

Lim also told the court that Tajudin wanted to withdraw all appeals against Pengurusan Danaharta and 24 other respondents named in his counter-claim.

Following this, Justice Datuk Seri Abu Samah Nordin, who chaired the panel, struck out all the appeals.

However, the Court of Appeal panel of judges comprising Datuk Seri Abu Samah Nordin, Datuk Syed Ahmad Helmy Syed Ahmad and Datuk Alizatul Khair Osman Khairuddin ordered Tajudin to bear legal cost of the other 13 other parties involved, including the Government, amounting to RM185,000 for the striking out appeal and joinder/amendment appeal.

The High Court had awarded summary judgment in favour of Pengurusan Danaharta against Tajudin for RM589.1mil together with interest at 2% above the base-lending rate of Malayan Banking Bhd in December 2005.

In June 2006, Tajudin counter-claimed for a total of RM13.36bil that involved 38 parties among which are Telekom Enterprise Sdn Bhd, Naluri Corp Bhd special administrators Mohamad Raslan Abdul Rahman, Ooi Woon Chee and Gan Ah Tee, Telekom Malaysia Bhd, Telekom Enterprise Sdn Bhd. Technology Resources Industries Bhd, Celcom (Malaysia) Sdn Bhd, Commerce International Merchant Bankers Bhd (CIMB), Atlan Holdings Bhd and Atlan Properties Sdn Bhd.

However, in August 2011, it was reported that Ggovernment-linked companies (GLCs) were negotiating on possible settlement of more than 10 civil suits against Tajudin.

The GLCs included MAS, Naluri Corp Bhd, Celcom (M) Bhd, Telekom Malaysia (TM), Pengurusan Danaharta Nasional Bhd and Atlan Holdings Bhd.

TM, Axiata Group Bhd (the parent company of Celcom) and CIMB Bhd in a filing with Bursa Malaysia yesterday said the Court of Appeal had ordered the appeals to be struck out.

TM said the court had also ordered Tajudin to pay cost RM10,000 to each respondent for the striking-out appeal and RM5,000 to each respondent for the joinder/amendment appeal.