KUALA LUMPUR (Sept 28): The late Tan Sri Jamaludin Jarjis’ former lawyer related in the High Court today of how one of the ex-minister’s companies was used as a special purpose vehicle to acquire a stake held by RHB Bank in Dulang Ekuiti Sdn Bhd, which in turn owned an equity interest in independent power producer (IPP) Nur Power Sdn Bhd.

Liza Chan Sow Keng (pictured), 62, who is now a judicial commissioner, said she prepared all the necessary documents in 2012 for Ivory Insights Sdn Bhd to acquire the purported 29.6 % stake in Dulang Ekuiti.

Chan said Jamaludin was not the sole purchaser of the stake. Joining him in buying the stake — via Ivory Insights — were Datuk Zakri Afandi Ismail, Tengku Zahaimi Hashim and Chan herself.

“We all decided to purchase it with our own money and did not take a loan from the bank,” she said, adding that Ivory Insights was initially a RM2 company.

Chan said while she drew up the sales and purchase agreement, RHB appointed Messrs Shook Lin and Bok to represent the bank in the deal, and a sum of millions of ringgit was paid to that law firm to acquire the stake.

“From the money that we combined, my law firm issued a cheque paid to Shook Lin and Bok. When the acquisition was made, some of us paid 43 sen (for each share), while others paid in excess of 50 sen per share. As a result, from 2012 onwards, we received dividends from the acquisition,” Chan said.

In the end, Jamaludin's companies became the owner of Nur Power, said Chan, testifying as the defendants’ final witness in the suit brought by Jamaludin's mother Aminah Abdullah against two of her grandchildren.

The witness was being cross-examined by Aminah's counsel Pawancheek Merican. Besides Pawancheek, counsel Kamar Ainiah Kamaruzaman appeared for Aminah.

Nur Power is an IPP that was granted exclusive rights to sell electricity to customers in the Kulim Hi-Tech Industrial Park in Kedah, from May 1996.

Dulang Ekuiti is 60% owned by Teras Dara Konsortium Sdn Bhd (which is wholly owned by Rantai Wawasan Sdn Bhd) and 10.4% by Alpine Motion Sdn Bhd.

Both Alpine Motion and Rantai Wawasan are companies owned by Jamaludin, a close associate of former premier Datuk Seri Najib Razak who had served as second finance minister, minister of science, technology and innovation, and ambassador to the United States.

Aminah, 84, is claiming a share in the late minister’s estate, worth RM1.3 billion, from her grandchildren Nur Anis Jamaluddin and Ikhwan Hafiz Jamaluddin. This is according to the faraid – Islamic division method where the mother is entitled to one-sixth of the estate. 

Chan, during examination in chief by the two grandchildren's counsel Saheran Suhendran (who appeared with Frank Wong and Zuri Zabuddin Budinman), said Rantai Wawasan is the “crown jewel” of the three companies and hence in 2009, Jamaludin appointed her as the solicitor to prepare a trust deed for the children.

She said Nur Anis and Ikhwan Hafiz were at that time the only two allowed to hold a trust deed for the company, as the minister's two other daughters, Nurul Alyaa and Noor Adilla, were then in their teens.

“Jamaludin loved his four children equally and wanted each of them to be given an equal stake. Nur Anis and Ikhwan Hafiz who owned Rantai Warisan, know that each sibling will hold a 25% stake in the company, should something happen to their father.”

“Initially, in preparing the trust deed Jamaludin wanted me to ensure that he (Jamaludin) would be able to acquire the company back, as he was afraid that his children married gold diggers. Hence, I prepared an arrangement that Jamaludin is given the opportunity to regain the company but this was never exercised until his untimely death,” she said.

“I take it upon themselves that the two siblings are to carry out the father's wishes,” the witness added. 

Jamaludin died in a helicopter crash in April 2015, that also killed five others including Najib's principal private secretary Datuk Azlin Alias.

Meanwhile, another defence witness by the name of Alec Lim Chaw Chen maintained that Aminah was a literate person and that she has signed a letter of renunciation for any claim.

However, Lim agreed when cross-examined by Kamar Ainiah that there was no commissioner of oaths present when the letter was signed.

The witness also agreed that Aminah did not bring a lawyer with her when she was asked to sign the document and was unsure whether she understood the implication of signing the letter.

Aminah's lawyers had always maintained that she was illiterate. The grandmother, who is wheelchair bound, was present during today's proceedings.

Eight witnesses including Aminah, have testified for the plaintiff and another seven for the defence.

Justice Datuk Mohd Firuz Jaffril did not fix a date to hear submissions from both sides, as Pawancheek wants Chan to produce the cheque stub of the payment made by Ivory Heights to Shook Lin and Bok for the acquisition of RHB's stake in Dulang Ekuiti.