KUALA LUMPUR (Feb 7): Minister of Finance Inc (MOF Inc)-owned Perbadanan Nasional Bhd (Pernas) on Tuesday (Feb 7) obtained a RM46 million summary judgment from the High Court against Serba Dinamik Holdings Bhd’s group managing director Datuk Dr Mohd Abdul Karim Abdullah and two former senior executives of Serba Dinamik subsidiaries.
The summary judgment was granted by judge Ong Chee Kwan, who also allowed Pernas to strike out Mohd Abdul Karim’s counterclaim.
A summary judgment is where the plaintiff that filed the suit could obtain a judgment or decision without going through a trial.
The other two former executives are Rosland Othman and Rosli Hamat.
Rosland was previously a senior vice-president (special project) under Serba Dinamik Group Bhd (SDGB), while Rosli was a senior vice-president (investment) of Serba Dinamik International Ltd (SDIL). Rosland and Rosli are the first two defendants while Mohd Abdul Karim was named as the third defendant.
Both SDGB and SDIL are Serba Dinamik's subsidiaries.
When contacted, Pernas’ counsel Wafiy Azman confirmed the outcome to The Edge on Tuesday.
“Yes, the court allowed Pernas' summary judgment application and allowed judgment in the sum of approximately RM46 million to be entered against Rosland, Rosli and Datuk Karim.
“The court also allowed Pernas to strike out Datuk Karim's counterclaim,” Wafiy confirmed.
Rosland and Rosli were represented by counsel Saiful Hadi while Frank Wong and Habizan Rahman appeared for Mohd Abdul Karim.
In a statement of claim filed in April last year, the company said it entered an investment agreement and a put option agreement with Rosland and Rosli on Jan 24, 2018, under which Pernas agreed to purchase 13.5 million Serba Dinamik shares. The purchase price was not stated.
Under the deal, the parties agreed that should Serba Dinamik shares fall below RM3 per share, Rosland and Rosli would pay Pernas the difference between RM3 and the actual share price it fell to, within seven days after a notice from Pernas.
Pernas also inked a put option agreement with the duo, which gave Pernas the right to sell the shares it bought from the duo at an agreed option price that would take into consideration Pernas' investment cost, at 12% interest per year.
Rosland and Rosli, according to the statement of claim, then inked a supplementary option agreement on June 27, 2019, which stipulated that if the duo failed to buy the Serba Dinamik shares owned by Pernas should Pernas exercise its put option, then Mohd Abdul Karim would be required to complete the acquisition.
Pernas claimed that Mohd Abdul Karim was prepared to absorb the losses that could be suffered by Pernas should Serba Dinamik's share price fall below RM3.
When Serba Dinamik shares fell in 2021, Pernas started to claim from the duo, but they failed to pay up, and the company exercised its put option to sell its Serba Dinamik shares to the duo at RM46.44 million. But neither Rosland nor Rosli was able to fulfil the agreement.
This led Pernas to issue a notice to Mohd Abdul Karim to buy over the shares, but he similarly failed to honour the guarantee, resulting in the suit.
At the same time, the three of them filed their defence where they claimed that Pernas was negligent in not taking earlier action to mitigate its losses.
Mohd Abdul Karim also filed a counterclaim against Pernas.
Pernas then filed an application on Aug 1 to strike out that counterclaim.