KUALA LUMPUR (May 21): Tan Sri Shamsuddin Abdul Kadir, the founder of Sapura Holdings Sdn Bhd, told the High Court on Wednesday that he had sued his sons in 2012 because they did not keep their promise.
Shamsuddin was testifying as a witness at the hearing of a petition to wind up Sapura Holdings, initiated by one of the sons, Datuk Shahriman Shamsuddin. The respondents included Shahriman's brother, Tan Sri Shahril Shamsuddin.
Asked by Shahriman's lawyer Gopal Sreenevasan if the Sapura Holdings' founder's decision to sue Shahriman and Shahril went against family values, Shamsuddin said: “I disagree. I sued them because they didn’t keep their promise.”
Shahril's lawyer, Rabindra S Nathan, had earlier raised the subject of "family values” while referring to Shamsuddin's decision to sue Shariman and Shahril in 2012, to demand the return of his shares and properties valued in excess of RM450 million.
Rabindra, who suggested that Shamsuddin had disregarded “family values” when he initiated the suit, referred him to a letter he had written to his sons on July 30, 2024, in which Shamsuddin stated that he had hoped the brothers would pass on the company's shares and “values” of the family down to their children.
Rabindra: I put it to you that even if one assumes that when you ran Sapura Holdings, family interest was fundamental. That [family interest], however, would not have survived, [following] the fact that you initiated legal proceedings against your sons.
Shamsuddin: I disagree.
Rabindra also referred Shamsuddin to a letter from his solicitors to his sons this year, in which he stated that he would initiate legal acton if certain legal obligations were not met by Shahril and Shahriman.
Rabindra: I have to put my clients' case to you, I put it to you that far from embodying family interests and family values, the fact that you have sued and admitted that you will sue your sons again, means that you have pursued your own interests over your family.
Shamsuddin: I disagree.
Rabindra: The fact that you once sued your sons and threatened to sue them again makes the reference to values in the letter seem of little value itself?
Shamsuddin: I disagree.
Noting that in the letter to his sons in 2024, Shamsuddin expressed his sadness that the relationship between the brothers has broken down, Rabindra asked him if the expression of sadness had sat well with him.
Rabindra: I have to put it to you that this expression of sadness does not sit well, as you are in a legal pursuit with your sons.
Shamsuddin: I disagree.
Rabindra also suggested to Shamsuddin that the letter he had written to his sons was dictated by someone else, and were “not his words”, or that someone “connected to the petition” had advised him to write it in preparation for the petition, which was filed in September last year.
Shamsuddin disagreed to that too.
Shahriman filed the petition to wind up Sapura Holdings in September last year, believing it is needed for a fair asset distribution. Shahril, however, opposed this, claiming it is not a family company.
Both Shahriman and Shahril hold a 40.5% direct stake each, while their equally owned vehicle Brothers Capital Sdn Bhd has a 15% stake. Director Datuk Rameli Musa owns a 4% interest in the company.
The trial continues on Thursday.