KUALA LUMPUR (Sept 29): Former 1Malaysia Development Bhd (1MDB) president Arul Kanda Kandasamy and former Treasury secretary general Tan Sri Mohd Irwan Serigar Abdullah are considering instituting third-party proceedings in the US$6.59 billion (RM30.91 billion) lawsuit filed by 1MDB against them.
Third-party proceedings may see former or possibly current 1MDB officers brought in by the duo to be parties and defendants in the action.
This was relayed to Judicial Commissioner (JC) Datuk Raja Ahmad Mohzanuddin Shah Raja Mohzan following case management on Wednesday.
Besides this, solicitors for Arul Kanda also informed the court that their client is considering filing a counterclaim, after Mohd Irwan filed a similar application citing abuse of court process in naming Mohd Irwan.
Mohd Irwan’s lawyers are said to be considering filing a discovery application to the suit. Mohd Irwan was one of the members of 1MDB's board of advisers.
All this transpired before Raja Ahmad Mohzanuddin during Wednesday's case management.
The JC had on Aug 23 dismissed Arul Kanda and Mohd Irwan’s application to strike out the suit and ordered the case to go for a full trial as he ruled that the matter was not suitable to be decided via affidavits to the court and summary judgement.
“As a result of analysis of all the arguments and issues presented to me and raised by the parties, it is clear that the issues presented to me, including allegations of fraud and conspiracy, cannot be decided and resolved merely by affidavits.
“All of the issues before me cannot be resolved by a simple straightforward approach. In other words the assessment of the facts in front of me prevents me from being able to dispose of all the issues in a summary manner as requested by the defendants,” he said, adding the matter would proceed to trial.
At Wednesday’s case management, Raja Ahmad Mohzanuddin also directed that pre-trial documents, which include the bundle of pleadings, common bundle of documents, agreed facts, agreed issues to be tried, summary of cases, list of witnesses and chronology of events, are to be filed by Nov 20 this year.
Raja Ahmad Mohzanuddin also fixed Nov 20 as the date for the next case management.
The outcome was confirmed by counsel Wong Sze Some for 1MDB and lawyer Lavinia Kumaraendran for Mohd Irwan.
1MDB filed the suit in May 2021 and claimed that both Arul Kanda and Mohd Irwan were liable for breach of duties and breach of trust, resulting in the company suffering losses amounting to US$1.83 billion in relation to its investment in 1MDB-Petrosaudi Ltd, which was converted into stakes in Brazen Sky Ltd and then converted into an investment in Bridge Global Fund.
It also alleged that Arul Kanda and Mohd Irwan committed breach of trust and conspiracy by misappropriating US$3.5 billion of 1MDB money and paying it to Aabar Investments PJS Ltd — a shell company pretending to be a subsidiary of International Petroleum Investment Company (IPIC) — and subsequently paying another US$1.265 billion to IPIC in May 2017.
1MDB also claimed that Mohd Irwan had conspired with Arul Kanda to cause the fund to implement an employment extension agreement that resulted in it paying RM2.91 million to Arul Kanda, regardless of 1MDB's interests, causing it to suffer losses and damage.
Among others, the strategic development company is seeking RM30.91 billion from the duo as a result of the purported breaches, and the return of the RM2.91 million from Mohd Irwan in relation to the employment extension agreement.