Travel bill suit refiled against Azmin’s three children

 

A travel firm early last month withdrew its suit against three of International Trade and Industry Minister Mohamed Azmin Ali’s children over purported unpaid air tickets and hotel stays.

However, later that same month, YHA Travel & Tours (M) Sdn Bhd refiled the travel bill suit against Farah Afifah, Farah Amira and Mohamed Ameer Shazrin.

According to cause papers sighted by Malaysiakini today, the Kuala Lumpur Sessions Court on Sept 4 had allowed the travel firm’s application to withdraw the suit against the three children with the liberty to file afresh.

The court documents stated that the withdrawal was due to allegedly being the travel agency being unable to serve the amended suit on the three defendants prior to the expiration of the amended cause papers.

On Jan 23, the Kuala Lumpur Sessions Court allowed YHA to add Azmin’s four children - Farah Shazliyana, Farah Afifah, Farah Amira, and Mohamed Ameer Shazrin - as defendants in the suit which initially targeted only Azmin.

The Jan 23 ruling in effect resulted in an amended writ of summons which not only lists Azmin but also his four children as additional defendants in the matter.

However, on March 6, it was reported that the travel firm had yet to be able to serve the amended cause papers on the four children of Azmin.

On July 22, it was reported that the plaintiff only managed to serve the amended cause papers on one of Azmin’s four children, Farah Syazliyana.

According to the present court documents, YHA’s attempt to serve the amended cause papers on Farah Afifah, Farah Amira, and Mohamed Ameer Shazrin was claimed to be unsuccessful due to the imposition of the movement control order (MCO) in March this year, among others.

“Due to intervening events such as the movement control order, the plaintiff was unable to successfully serve the amended writ and amended statement of claim upon the defendants herein (Farah Afifah, Farah Amira, and Mohamed Ameer Shazrin), either by way of personal service or otherwise, prior to the expiration of the amended writ.

“On or around Sept 4 2020, the plaintiff applied to withdraw suit 505 (initial suit which named Azmin as among the defendants)against the first defendant (Farah Afifah), the second defendant (Farah Amira), and the third defendant (Mohamed Ameer Shazrin) herein with the liberty to file afresh.

"In this regard, the plaintiff’s application was allowed by the court,” the new cause papers stated.

According to the present writ of summons, the travel firm’s solicitors, law firm Messrs Fong Yap & Gan, refiled the legal action against three of Azmin’s children, at the Kuala Lumpur Sessions Court Registry on Sept 10.

In effect, this means that YHA now has two separate travel bill suits - one which targets Azmin and Farah Syazliyan and another suit which targets Farah Afifah, Farah Amira, and Mohamed Ameer Shazrin.

The refiled suit against Farah Afifah, Farah Amira and Mohamed Ameer Shazrin seeks the recovery of RM3,880, RM6,400 and RM92,280 from the three defendants respectively.

Malaysiakini is attempting to reach out to the plaintiff’s solicitors over the matter.

On Nov 5 last year, it was reported that YHA had sued Azmin, the former PKR deputy president, for the recovery of RM328,901 in unpaid flight tickets and hotel stays.

YHA claimed the amount owed was for travels between September 2018 and August 2019. According to a breakdown of the claim, the firm had booked flight tickets and hotel stays for Azmin, his family, friends and ministry staff.

The firm said in the past it had to advance payments to airlines first to secure the tickets and would be paid by Azmin or his representative every three to four months, among others.

On Dec 14 last year, it was reported that Azmin had filed a counterclaim against YHA, alleging that the travel bill suit had an ulterior motive linked to purported sex videos allegedly involving him and former Santubong PKR Youth chief Haziq Abdullah Abdul Aziz.

On Dec 30 last year, it was reported that YHA had filed an application to include Azmin’s four children as defendants in the legal action. - Mkini