KUALA LUMPUR (Dec 28): The Federal Land Development Authority (Felda) and its subsidiary Felda Investment Corporation Sdn Bhd (FIC) wants to consolidate the trial of its RM2 billion suit against its two former chairmen Tan Sri Isa Samad and Tan Sri Shahrir Samad, Synergy Promenade Sdn Bhd, Synergy Promenade KLVC Sdn Bhd and 17 others — with other ongoing trials involving the same parties, for the cases to be tried jointly.
A case management was held via e-review today and the hearing of the application to consolidate the suits has been fixed on April 21 at 2.30pm. The case management was done before High Court deputy registrar, Idamasliza Maarof, who fixed the hearing date before Justice Wong Chee Lin.
When contacted, counsel Amrit Pal Singh for the two Synergy Promenade companies confirmed the outcome of the case management with theedgemarkets.com. “Yes, Felda and FIC are applying to consolidate this suit with the defamation suits filed by my client,” said Amrit.
Felda and FIC were represented today by lawyers from Lee Hishamuddin Allen & Gledhill.
Felda and FIC initiated the RM2 billion lawsuit in November 2019, when it named 21 individuals and entities as defendants including the two Synergy Promenade companies, as well as Isa and Shahrir, over the Kuala Lumpur Vertical City (KLVC) project. Felda and FIC claimed these parties had jointly conspired to "the plundering" of Felda and FIC through unlawful means and purpose, resulting in the injuring of and a loss to both Felda and FIC. This, they claimed, happened when Datuk Seri Najib Razak was the prime minister.
Read: Felda and FIC file RM2 billion suit against Isa, Shahrir and Synergy Promenade
Besides the four parties, Felda and FIC also named FIC chief executive officer Mohd Zaid Abdul Jalil and former Felda director-generals Datuk Faizoull Ahmad, Datuk Hanapi Suhada and Datuk Abdul Ghani Mohd Ali, as well as the Federal Territories' Director of Lands and Mines as defendants.
Felda and FIC alleged the parties it named had conspired to defraud Felda in the KLVC project by leading Felda to enter into a scheme of settlement with the Synergy Promenade companies, while those it named as executors in the suit had assisted in the cover-up of the alleged fraud.
They also claimed that the conspiracy caused Felda, through FIC, to enter into various questionable contracts to engage in luxurious and inflated projects on the pretext of aggressive and strategic investments, including the KLVC. Other investments named in Felda and FIC's statement of claim were the purchase of hotels like the Grand Borneo Hotel, the Grand Plaza Service Apartments, and the Park City Grand Plaza Kensington in the United Kingdom that amounted to about RM880 million.
The modus operandi of those involved, Felda and FIC claimed, involved getting Felda's subsidiaries in various projects and contracts that were confusing and which appear as if they were based on decisions done at the main Felda level, thereby enabling them to avoid full scrutiny.
The consolidation of trial that Felda and FIC seek includes several lawsuits that Synergy Promenade and Synergy Promenade KLVC have filed separately against Shahrir and several media organisations for defamation, which are also pending trial.
The two companies have also filed suits against Felda and FIC for breach of contract. On July 23, High Court Justice Datuk Azimah Omar ordered the matter to proceed to trial.
Synergy Promenade was appointed by Felda in 2014 to be the master developer of the KLVC project — a mixed development on 24 parcels of land measuring some 20.66 acres (8.36ha) owned by Felda along Jalan Semarak here — during Isa's time as Felda chairman.
But the deal did not materialise as Felda and FIC only delivered vacant possession of one parcel of land to the company and not the remaining 23, for the development to proceed, Synergy Promenade claimed. Subsequently, Synergy Promenade — owned by Datuk Abd Rahman Soltan and Datuk Noraini Soltan — filed the suit against Felda and FIC in 2019 for breach of contract.
There is another case between FIC and Synergy Promenade in which FIC had sought a court injunction to stop Synergy Promenade from seeking arbitration over the land deal related to the KLVC project. But this matter has been ordered to go for arbitration when another High Court judicial commissioner Anand Ponnudurai dismissed FIC's injunction bid.