Former prime minister Najib Abdul Razak and his wife Rosmah Mansor have denied any conspiracy to defraud controversial carpet trader Deepak Jaikishian of prime land in Bukit Raja, as alleged in his RM576 million suit against them and two others.
Najib and Rosmah said this in their application to strike out Deepak's suit, which they filed on Jan 7. Today was fixed for case management.
Boustead Holdings Sdn Bhd and its subsidiary Bakti Wira Sdn Bhd had also filed, last month, their individual applications to strike out Deepak's suit.
The deputy registrar of the High Court in Kuala Lumpur, Farah Shuhada Ramli, today fixed April 4 to hear the striking-out application before Justice Azimah Omar.
Najib and Rosmah were represented by lawyers David Mathews and Cheryl Tan while Kenny Chan and Lai Wai Loong appeared for Boustead and Bakti Wira.
Deepak was represented by Irzan Iswatt.
Najib and Rosmah had, at the last session of the matter in the High Court on Dec 31 last year, indicated they would apply to strike out the suit filed by Deepak.
The carpet dealer filed his suit last October against Najib, Rosmah, Boustead Holdings and Bakti Wira, claiming they conspired and interfered in a property deal that purportedly caused Deepak's company to suffer huge losses.
Deepak claimed that the four defendants allegedly exerted undue influence on him to purchase three parcels of land near Bukit Raja and to let it go at a later date.
The 180-hectare plot of land was said to be the venue for the National Defence Study Centre, which was to be built in 2007.
Deepak alleged in his statement of claim that a privatisation agreement was entered on June 8, 2005, with Awan Megah Sdn Bhd to construct the defence centre.
Awan Megah then offered the land to Astacanggih Sdn Bhd – a company majority-owned by Deepak – for RM118.57 million.
Following an acquisition agreement in 2007, Astacanggih claimed to have paid RM13 million and issued a bank guarantee for RM72.5 million as land bond for the project.
Deepak further claimed that then Selangor Wanita Umno chief, Raja Ropiaah Raja Abdullah, owned Awan Megah and was said to be a proxy of Najib and Rosmah.
However, Raja Ropiaah allegedly entered into another deal in 2010 to sell the land to GuppyUnip Sdn Bhd, which went against the original agreement made with Astacanggih.
As a result, Deepak filed an earlier suit against Awan Megah and a hearing was held. However, he then claimed that he was then forced to withdraw his suit under pressure from authorities.
The carpet trader further claimed that Najib and Rosmah used Lembaga Tabung Angkatan Tentera (LTAT) to acquire his 80 percent shareholding in Astacanggih, using Boustead through its subsidiary Bakti Wira.
He said he was eventually only paid RM30 million in 2012 for the acquisition of his share, despite the company being worth more than that following the land acquisition. - Mkini
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