PUTRAJAYA: The Court of Appeal has ordered a RM13.5 billion suit by Puncak Niaga Holdings Bhd against former Selangor menteri besar Abdul Khalid Ibrahim and the Selangor government to go for a full trial.
A three-member bench chaired by Justice Hanipah Farikullah allowed an appeal by Puncak Niaga to reverse a High Court decision to strike out the suit against Abdul Khalid and the Selangor government.
The bench held that the High Court judge had erred.
However, the court dismissed Puncak Niaga’s appeal over the High Court’s decision to strike out its suit against Khalid’s successor, Mohamed Azmin Ali. Puncak Niaga was ordered to pay RM10,000 costs.
The court held that there was “a reasonable cause of action” against Abdul Khalid on the basis of misfeasance in public office.
The court also decided that a question about the limitation under Public Authorities Protection Act “required mature consideration at trial as it is an important question of law that has to be argued further”.
In the suit filed in 2017, Puncak Niaga had claimed that Khalid and Azmin had abused their powers by threatening to cause the federal government to invoke the Water Services Industry Act 2006 to force the takeover of the water services industry in Selangor.
The company sought damages, interest and costs over the loss of business opportunities in the country and abroad, totalling RM13.5 billion.
Abdul Khalid and the Selangor government applied to strike out Puncak Niaga’s suit as he is not a public official as defined in several relevant laws. - FMT
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