Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim has been subpoenaed to testify as a witness in an ongoing RM30 million suit filed by 12 individuals against businessperson Vinod Sekhar and his wife Winny Yeap at the Kuala Lumpur High Court.
Court documents sighted by Malaysiakini showed that the plaintiffs’ counsel, Messrs Goh Wong Pereira, applied for the subpoena on Jan 15.
When contacted, lawyer Colin Pereira confirmed the matter, adding that the order was served to the prime minister yesterday.
“The plaintiffs issued the subpoena to him (Anwar) to testify as their witness.
“We have served the subpoena by email, courier, and by hand to the Prime Minister’s Office, which they have acknowledged receiving,” he said.
Colin added that Anwar must testify in court when subpoenaed, unless the latter applies to set aside the order after he is served.
The counsel also confirmed that Petra Equities Sdn Bhd (PESB) chairperson Tunku Imran Tuanku Ja’afar will be testifying during the hearing scheduled today and tomorrow, presided over by judge Adam @ Edward Abdullah.
A total of 12 individuals sued Vinod and his wife in 2023 over alleged misrepresentations, fraud, and breach of contract.
Ten out of the 12 plaintiffs were Vinod’s investors – namely Graham David Bell, Arthur J Mirante II, Ronald Barrie Clapham, Charles Robert Henry Stone, Paul Sallis Benney, Paul Nicholas Smith, Octavio Augusto Vallarino Arias, Simon Hafeitz Homsany, Talbortt Gerard Young, and Uri Fruchtmann.
The remaining two plaintiffs, Andrew Murray-Watson and April Srivikorn, are Vinod’s former employees.
They claimed that Vinod had persuaded them to invest with him or with his various companies, without disclosing his purported bankruptcy at the material time.
Bankruptcy claims
In their statements of claim, the plaintiffs said that they queried Vinod on the bankruptcy issue via email on Sept 30, 2020.
They also claimed that the latter had “brushed it off” and appeared to suggest that one “Anwar” would attend to the matter and that Vinod is aligned with him, whom they believed referred to the premier.
The court began hearing the case in October last year, when one of the investors, Bell, had testified on behalf of all the other plaintiffs.
Bell told the court that Vinod had portrayed himself as a trustworthy member of the community due to his connections with influential people, including Anwar.
He also told the court that the plaintiffs had filed the suit against Vinod and Yeap after the duo constantly failed to update them on their investment status, which resulted in them losing patience.
However, during one of the proceedings, Bell had agreed with Vinod’s lawyer, Rajan Navaratnam’s suggestion that there is no evidence to prove Vinod had used Anwar’s name to solicit any kind of investment or money from him or the other 11 plaintiffs. - Mkini
No comments:
Post a Comment
Note: Only a member of this blog may post a comment.