Govt now says Dhaya Maju's contract not cancelled, yet

 

The Kuala Lumpur High Court has been told that Putrajaya's contract with Dhaya Maju LTAT Sdn Bhd for the Klang Valley Double Tracking (KVDT2) rail project had yet to be cancelled.

This was according to the government and Transport Minister Wee Ka Siong's statement of defence in a suit brought by Dhaya Maju, sighted by Malaysiakini.

"The defendants state that the defendants have yet to terminate the contract because no written notice has been issued to the plaintiffs.

"(Therefore,) the plaintiff's decision to file this claim is premature," read the statement of defence dated Oct 2.

The plaintiffs replied on Oct 16, acknowledging the above to be correct, but argued that their suit was not premature because Wee had on Aug 28 issued a press release stating that the contract was to be cancelled.

However, the position taken by the government contradicted what senior federal counsel Nik Mohd Noor Nik Kar told the court on Sept 25.

At the time, Nik Mohd said the federal government had sent a letter of termination to Dhaya Maju by registered post a day before.

Dhaya Maju, in its Oct 16 reply, said since the statement of defence had stated that the contract was not cancelled, therefore, the court should prevent them from publicly stating otherwise.

The company filed a suit on Sept 7 seeking a declaration that they are in a valid and binding contract with the government to deliver the KVDT2.

They are also seeking RM137,054,534.21 that was allegedly owed to them by the government. The four invoices were issued in February, March, April and May.

However, the government in its statement of defence said accrued payments should be subtracted from the advance payments of RM100 million paid on Dec 12 and Dec 24, 2019.

The KVDT2 letter of award was inked, without an open tender process, on April 4, 2018 - a day before Parliament was dissolved - during the Najib Abdul Razak’s administration.

It was subsequently cancelled and renegotiated by the Pakatan Harapan’s administration in late 2018.

A new letter of acceptance (surat setuju terima, SST) was drawn up in Aug 2019, with the contract value reduced to RM4.475 billion, down from RM5.58 billion previously.

Dhaya Maju stated in its court filings that it had immediately begun work after receiving the SST and that a proper contract was supposed to be issued within four months.

The court filings also indicated that a formal contract was never issued. - Mkini