Businessperson, wife will not testify in RM30m suit, claim 'no case to answer'

 

Businessperson Vinod Sekhar and his wife Winny Yeap, named as defendants in an ongoing RM30 million suit filed by 12 individuals, will not take the stand as the couple has deemed they have “no case to answer”.

This was the submission made by the duo’s counsel, Rajan Navaratnam, before Kuala Lumpur judicial commissioner Adam @ Edward Abdullah during a proceeding on June 25.

Rajan’s submission came after the plaintiff’s lawyer, Colin Andrew Pereira, informed the court that he had filed an appeal notice against Adam’s June 19 decision announcing Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim need not appear for the proceedings, adding that his clients did not instruct him to close their case.

Rajan then made the “no case to answer” submissions, saying that the plaintiffs had failed to prove their case against the defendants on the balance of probabilities, pursuant to Section 101 of the Evidence Act 1950.

Subsequently, Rajan also confirmed to the court that the defendants would not offer any evidence, and therefore, they have closed their case.

Vinod Sekhar

Vinod was initially scheduled to take the stand last Thursday in his defence, prior to Rajan’s submissions.

The court then fixed July 31 for the plaintiffs to file their notes of proceedings and written submissions, as well as Sept 1 for the defendants to reply, and Sept 15 for the plaintiffs to further file their replies.

The court also scheduled Oct 2 for clarification and for the plaintiffs to make oral submissions.

RM5k cost

Pereira, at the start of Thursday’s proceedings, had applied to postpone the trial pending their appeal against Adam’s decision that set aside a subpoena on Anwar.

The plaintiffs’ lawyer submitted that there were special circumstances that would warrant a temporary stay of the proceeding that day.

However, Rajan argued that the court’s decision to set aside the subpoena was non-appealable and therefore, the entire reason for the plaintiffs’ appeal would crumble.

The court dismissed Pereira’s application and awarded RM5,000 in costs to the defendants.

Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim

Pereira then applied for an ad interim stay to file a fresh application at the Court of Appeal seeking the High Court’s proceedings to be stayed, which was also dismissed by Adam.

The suit was filed against Vinod and his wife in 2024 over alleged misrepresentations, fraud and breach of contracts, where the plaintiffs alleged that the businessperson had persuaded them to invest, either personally or through his companies, without disclosing his alleged bankruptcy status.

They also alleged that concerns raised in an email dated Sept 30, 2020, were dismissed by Vinod, who allegedly stated that a person named “Anwar” would resolve the matter, leading them to believe it was referring to the prime minister. - Mkini