PUTRAJAYA, Sept 18 — Businessman Tan Sri Halim Saad has turned to the Federal Court to seek leave to appeal the appellate court’s decision that had rejected his bid to reinstate a lawsuit against the government, former premier Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad, and former finance minister II Tan Sri Nor Mohamed Yakcop.
The suit stems from alleged losses he claimed to have suffered following the government's acquisition of shares in Renong Bhd and United Engineers Malaysia Berhad (UEM) in 2001.
Halim’s lawyer A. Surendra Ananth confirmed that the leave application was filed with the Federal Court yesterday.
In his notice of motion, the 72-year-old tycoon raised four legal questions for the Federal Court’s consideration, including whether a claim against the government of Malaysia for a breach of any of the fundamental liberties in Part II of the Federal Constitution is subject to the Limitation Act 1953 (Act 254) or the Public Authorities Protection Act 1948 (Act 198).
On August 18 this year, the Court of Appeal dismissed Halim’s appeal, affirming the High Court’s decision to strike out the lawsuit because it was time-barred under both the Act 254 and Act 198.
The suit was struck out by the High Court on May 9 last year, following an application filed by Dr Mahathir, Mohamed, and the government.
In his statement of claim, Halim, the former executive chairman and director of Renong, claimed that he intended to make a general offer to privatise UEM as a subsidiary of Renong, with the implementation enabling the plaintiff to gain full control and ownership of UEM.
He alleged that he was instructed by Dr Mahathir and Mohamed not to proceed with the general offer because the government wanted to take over all the shares in UEM through a designated entity, namely Khazanah Nasional Berhad or a party to be nominated by Khazanah.
Halim was supposedly instructed to leave UEM and Renong as a shareholder and director, including the subsidiaries of the two companies, thus obliging him to hand over control of Renong and UEM to the government and further dispose of his Renong shares at a loss.
He stated that Khazanah had acquired all of UEM’s shares through its subsidiary, Danasaham Sdn Bhd, thereby gaining control over UEM, which at the time owned 32.6 per cent of Renong shares.
Halim is claiming, among other things, compensation for the forced takeover by the government between July and October 2001 and a declaration that he is a Renong shareholder.
In their statement of defence, the defendants denied having forcibly taken over the shareholding of the two companies, as the takeover was approved by Halim, who received RM165 million in compensation.
