Court of Appeal allows Tawau MP's appeal against 2014 verdict

 

The Court of Appeal today allowed the appeal by Tawau MP Christina Liew and Samsuri Baharuddin against the 2014 High Court ruling that the pair, along with Liew's former clerk Siti Rahfizah Mihaldin, had unlawfully induced 819 landowners to breach their joint-venture agreement with plaintiff Borneo Samudera Sdn Bhd ((BSSB).

In delivering the decision, the Court of Appeal declared: "We find there is merit in this appeal. The decision of the High Court judge (Chew Soo Hoo) dated Sept 30, 2014, is set aside and we order the matter to be remitted to the High Court for retrial after the determination of the arbitration."

The Court of Appeal in its grounds of decision said that the judgment of Chew was a nullity (null and void) because the judge should not have proceeded with the trial.

There was supposed to have been an arbitration to decide on the validity of the joint venture agreement (JVA) entered into between the landowners (who were) Bagahak Scheme smallholders and BSSB, a subsidiary of Sabah Land Development Board (SLDB), which is a GLC.

BSSB had applied for the dispute between the parties in the High Court suit to be arbitrated in accordance with the terms of the JVA.

In 2008, the then Court of Appeal judge Gopal Sri Ram ordered that the High Court suit be stayed in favour of arbitration.

But in 2014, Chew had ruled that Liew (above) and Samsuri were liable for inducing the smallholders of the Bagahak Scheme to breach the JVA entered into between the smallholders and BSSB.

Samsuri had been engaged by Bagahak Scheme shareholders to seek legal advice on their behalf.

Chew then ordered damages to be assessed by the deputy registrar of the High Court in Tawau. In its claim against Liew and Samsuri, BSSB notably claimed damages of RM557,641,716.29.

In addition to the Court of Appeal’s ruling today that the trial judge’s decision was a nullity, it also ordered that there be a re-trial of the suit in the High Court in Tawau. But this can take place only after the arbitration tribunal decides on the enforceability of the JVA.

The Court of Appeal judges who heard the appeal today were Mohamad Zabidin Mohd Diah, Lee Heng Cheong and Ahmad Nasfy Haji Yasin.

Malik Imtiaz Sarwar, Alex Decena and Jordan Kong appeared for Liew and Samsuri, while Jeyan Marimuttu and Jimmy Chang represented BSSB. - Mkini