Jepak Holdings Sdn Bhd is mulling its next course of action over a lawsuit against it involving an alleged unpaid levy of over RM1.65 million linked to the controversial Sarawak solar hybrid energy project.
The company’s counsel Shim De Zhen today claimed it never received the cause papers on the suit by the Construction Industry Development Board (CIDB).
“The cause papers were never received by Jepak. We only knew about it from the news that came out last week,” he told Malaysiakini.
He was responding to a news report that CIDB’s lawyers purportedly have served copies of the suit on Jepak Holdings on Dec 8 last year.
The lawyer added that this is in light of an ongoing judicial management matter, on a separate legal matter, involving Jepak at the Kuala Lumpur High Court.
Shim was also referring to the separate ongoing legal matter where Jepak is seeking judicial management to permit it to pay its debts linked to the solar project.
On Friday last week, it was reported that CIDB filed a writ of summons against Jepak Holdings over its alleged failure to pay the over RM1.65 million levy.
CIDB, through law firm Messrs Hazura Yusoff & Partners, filed the legal action at the Kuala Lumpur High Court on Dec 2 last year.
The troubled project is the subject matter of the corruption trial of Rosmah Mansor, the wife of former prime minister Najib Abdul Razak.
The Education Ministry awarded Jepak Holdings the solar project, which was meant to benefit 369 rural schools in Sarawak at a cost of RM1.25 billion.
According to court documents, CIDB alleged that Jepak informed it about being awarded the project in November 2016.
The board claimed that when the company declared it was being awarded the project, it must pay a levy of RM1,656,250 which took effect from Jun 12, 2019.
The plaintiff claimed that it is empowered by the CIDB Act 1994 to impose the levy for projects which have a contract value of RM500,000 and above.
CIDB claimed that despite its lawyers issuing a Letter of Demand dated Aug 16, 2019, to Jepak, the company still failed to settle the payment of the levy.
The plaintiff, among others, is seeking a court order for the defendant to pay the unpaid levy of RM1,656,250 as of Aug 16, 2019.
According to an Affidavit of Service filed by CIDB's lawyers on Jan 12 this year, the legal action’s cause papers were purportedly served on the company via registered post on Dec 8 last year.
Jepak Holdings is also involved in a suit against the Education Ministry over the alleged wrongful termination of the project. - Mkini
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