The Minister in the Prime Minister’s Department told The Malaysian Insider that his directive ordering all government-linked companies to withdraw their suits against Tajuddin earlier this month was merely to buy time for all concerned parties to reach a “win-win” agreement and put an end to the prolonged financial saga involving Tajuddin.
He stressed that this was not a “cloak and dagger” move and explained that it was “Tajuddin’s people” who first approached the government with a proposal to reach an out-of-court settlement about six months ago.
He said the matter was referred to Second Finance Minister Datuk Seri Husni Hanadzlah who then directed him to pen the letter, taking note that Tajuddin’s case was scheduled for case management in court today.
“Since it involved the law and I am the minister in charge of law, Husni told me, why don’t you look into this. It is not a cloak and dagger move ... we knew this would come out somehow and there is nothing to hide. I wrote that letter using my letterhead,” said Nazri.
The Padang Rengas MP listed the three main parties involved in suits against Tajuddin — MAS, Telekom Malaysia and Prokhas Sdn Bhd — and said the government-linked entities can still choose to proceed with their suits if they felt they had a strong case against him.
Prokhas is a private limited company wholly-owned by the Minister of Finance Incorporated and tasked to manage the residual assets of Pengurusan Danaharta Nasional Berhad and its group of companies.
“I want you to remember here that we, these three parties, sued Tajuddin and of course, he filed his defence.
“Let’s say if we win, we get the money and if we lose, we will probably have to pay his costs but he not only filed his defence — he counter-sued us.
“In any case, there is a 50-50 chance of winning or losing ... If we win, okay, but if not, we will have to make the payout so that is why it was worth looking at his proposal — which is if we withdraw, he will withdraw,” he said.
“This is the minimum ... we withdraw, he withdraws. For further discussion, how much he is to pay and so on, it is up to the two parties to discuss. That letter that I sent was for them to sit and discuss this proposal but you must understand that we cannot direct these three because they are GLCs and they are legal entities that can make their own decisions.
“If they feel they have a strong case, then go ahead but the government feels that we have to look into an out-of-court settlement so that we do not lose,” he said.
Nazri pointed out that MAS was presently not in the best financial position to be battling out expensive court cases and should consider looking into the proposal.
He said his letter was merely to “facilitate” this move but stressed that it would be “too naive” to assume that one letter was enough to settle the long drawn out financial saga.
The Malaysian Insider reported this morning that Putrajaya, through Nazri’s letter, had directed all GLCs, including MAS and the national debt restructuring company Danaharta, to cease all civil suits against Tajuddin, the former chairman of the national carrier and protégé of Tun Daim Zainuddin.
Daim is a close friend of former Prime Minister Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad and an ex-finance minister who was the architect of the now discredited policy of nurturing a class of Malay corporate captains on government largesse.
Individuals such as Tajuddin, Tan Sri Halim Saad and others flew high in the 1990s but their true mettle was tested during the Asian financial crisis. Nearly all of them fared poorly.
The Najib government’s move to settle all outstanding claims against Tajuddin appears to be an attempt to wipe the slate clean in a financial saga that goes back decades to the height of Dr Mahathir’s administration.
MAS had first lodged a police report against Tajuddin in 2002 for allegedly causing the flag carrier to suffer losses in excess of RM8 billion. Tajuddin was the executive chairman of the airline from 1994 to 2001.
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