Law firm’s partners say they won’t hand documents to Zaid

 

Lawyer Tommy Thomas says Zaid Ibrahim is not entitled to 5% share of ZICO’s equity as he had left private practice to take up a government appointment.

KUALA LUMPUR: Law firm Zaid Ibrahim & Co (ZICO) today said it will not surrender documents to its founder Zaid Ibrahim for the purpose of his civil action against the firm’s partners.

Lawyer Tommy Thomas, appearing for ZICO, said they are objecting against Zaid’s discovery application to obtain the documents on grounds that he is not entitled to them.

“Our stand is, we say these documents he sought for are in his possession and he cannot come back and ask us to produce (them),” Thomas told High Court judge Akhtar Tahir.

Zaid, who is also a former federal minister, had in December last year filed an application seeking his former partners – Chew Seng Kok and Nik Norzrul Thani Nik Hassan Thani – and Singapore-based ZICO Holdings Inc to disclose documents in their possession to enable him to formulate and plead his action in contract, tort or breach of trust.

He said that when he left ZICO in 2008 to take up his appointment as a minister in the Prime Minister’s Department in charge of legal affairs, he did not take any documents with him.

He previously commenced a lawsuit against Chew and Nik Norzrul to stop them from using the ZICO name in their practice.

Zaid said that from 1987 until he left ZICO, he had built a name for the firm, “particularly in obtaining empanelment with financial institutions and government-linked corporations”.

Thomas told the court that Zaid’s claim that he still has 5% equity shares in ZICO is deemed illegal, as the law forbids non-practising lawyers to hold any stake in a law firm after they quit private practice.

“As a matter of fact, it does not make sense for him to commence a second civil action against the firm’s partners here.

“There is no reason why he cannot join this discovery application with his first civil action,” he said.

Malik Imtiaz Sarwar, appearing for Zaid, contended that the discovery application is not a “fishing expedition” as alleged by ZICO.

He said the cause of action in today’s discovery application is different from the first civil action.

Akhtar asked Malik about the points that Thomas had raised, namely on why Zaid did not make the discovery application through his first civil action.

To that, Malik said the first civil action was primarily on the dispute over the use of ZICO’s name. “I don’t see why I am not allowed to do so (commencing a second civil action on discovery) under the Rules of Courts,” he said.

Malik said Thomas’ argument on the validity of 5% purported equity was never raised in his written submissions today and that “we were taken by surprise”.

“We have an answer for that but we will take it to the other proceedings,” he said.

Akhtar instructed ZICO and Zaid to file additional submissions to address issues on the 5% equity and on why Zaid could commence a second civil action before another court before April 27.

“I will deliver my decision on May 10,” he said. - FMT