PUTRAJAYA (Aug 14): The High Court hearing to change the voluntary winding-up of THHE Fabricators Sdn Bhd into a compulsory winding-up will go ahead next Monday, Aug 18.
This comes after the Federal Court rejected THHE Fabricators’ application to delay the hearing while waiting for its appeal on a legal question related to the winding-up case, set for Sept 9.
A three-member bench on Thursday dismissed THHE Fabricators' application for a stay and ordered THHE Fabricators to pay RM20,000 in legal costs to the petitioners, Boomslang Technology Sdn Bhd (previously known as Blackstone Technology Sdn Bhd) and Dynac Sdn Bhd, who are the company’s creditors.
THHE Fabricators is a unit of TH Heavy Engineering Bhd, which was delisted in 2023 and is 64.45% owned by the Ministry of Finance through Urusharta Jamaah Sdn Bhd.
Court of Appeal President Datuk Abu Bakar Jais who sat with Federal Court judges Datuk Rhodzhariah Bujang and Tan Sri Ahmad Terrirudin Mohd Salleh ruled that a stay of the High Court hearing would result in an undue delay of the case.
“Furthermore, there are no special circumstances for this court to allow a stay,” Abu Bakar added in proceedings that were conducted online.
THHE Fabricators’ lawyer, Alvin Tang Wye Keet, argued that the hearing should be delayed until the Federal Court decides on their appeal application about a legal question related to the case. He said they had earlier applied for a stay at the High Court but withdrew it last month. Lawyers Mark Ho Hing Kheong and Eldarius Yong also represented the company.
However, David Thomas Mathew, representing the petitioners, opposed the delay. He said it would be an abuse of the court process, as THHE Fabricators could have made the stay request earlier, instead of waiting until after the hearing dates were already set.
“THHE Fabricators had insisted on having a trial for this petition (for the compulsory winding-up), and now when a date had been fixed for hearing, they filed a stay, and this is clearly an abuse of the court process.
“If a stay is granted, it would affect the petitioners and other unsecured creditors, as we do not know when are the High Court’s free dates,” said Mathew, who appeared with Olivia Loh, Lai Ann Xing and Koh Jo Vin.
The Federal Court’s decision follows that of the Court of Appeal on May 8, when it rejected THHE and THHE Fabricators’ attempt to delay the compulsory winding-up hearing. As a result, the High Court ordered THHE’s winding-up, and the hearing for THHE Fabricators’ case to resume for five days from next Monday, Aug 18.
THHE began voluntary winding-up in September 2023 after being delisted for a year, stating it couldn't continue operations due to its liabilities.
Global Mariner Offshore Services, Blackstone Technology, and Dynac filed an application for a compulsory winding-up against THHE, while Blackstone and Dynac filed separate applications against THHE Fabricators. The High Court granted their application on Feb 4 last year.
The difference between a voluntary winding-up as opposed to a compulsory winding-up is that in a voluntary action, it is initiated by the company, while the latter is initiated by the court.
The petitioners are seeking a compulsory winding-up of THHE Fabricators, claiming the voluntary winding-up wasn’t done in good faith and was not in the best interests of creditors or shareholders. They also believe an independent investigation is needed, and want independent liquidators appointed to look into the company’s affairs.