Former 1MDB CEO, ex-SRC chairperson dropped from lawsuit

SRC International has withdrawn its civil action against its former chairperson Ismee Ismail and 1MDB’s former CEO Shahrol Azral Ibrahim Halmi.

The former subsidiary of 1MDB filed the Notices of Discontinuance at the Kuala Lumpur High Court on July 26.

According to copies of the two notices sighted by Malaysiakini, SRC withdrew the suit against the two with no liberty to file afresh.

Following this, only five defendants are left in the civil action, namely former prime minister Najib Abdul Razak; SRC’s three former directors Suboh Md Yassin, Mohammed Azhar Osman Khairuddin and Che Abdullah @ Rashidi Che Omar; and its former CEO Nik Faisal Ariff Kamil.

Malaysiakini is attempting to reach out to SRC’s lawyers from law firm Rosli Dahlan Saravana Partnership for a response on the matter.

The suit is one of the 22 launched by the SRC and the 1MDB against various personalities and entities, who purportedly defrauded them whether knowingly or unknowingly.

On July 26, it was reported that 1MDB’s suit against a law firm and its partner - which initially formed part of the 22 legal actions - had also been withdrawn.

Previously, The Edge Markets reported that the suits in total seek around US$23 billion (RM94.4 billion) from the defendants.

Among those named as defendants in the multitudes of suits were Najib, former 1MDB chairperson Che Lodin Wok Kamaruddin and former 1MDB CEOs Shahrol, Mohd Hazem Abdul Rahman and Arul Kanda Kandasamy.

Others include several family members of fugitive businessperson Low Taek Jho, or Jho Low, including his father and his sister, alleged associates Eric Tan Kim Loong, and PetroSaudi International Ltd founder Tarek Obaid.

Some of the entities named were Deutsche Bank (Malaysia) Ltd as well as Swiss-based private bankers Coutts & Co Ltd and JP Morgan (Switzerland) Ltd.

The business news portal's report, quoting a source familiar with the suits, said the criminal cases in the 1MDB scandal were proceeding too slowly and the civil suits would demonstrate Prime Minister Muhyiddin Yassin's seriousness on the issue.

On July 27 last year, Najib was sentenced to 12 years in prison and an RM210 million fine for abuse of power, criminal breach of trust and money laundering involving RM42 million from SRC.

He is appealing the conviction and the matter is now before the Court of Appeal. His 1MDB-related charges are still before the High Court.

Ismee was a prosecution witness in Najib's RM42 million SRC corruption trial.

Shahrol testified for the prosecution in the ongoing RM2.28 billion 1MDB graft trial against the former premier. - Mkini