KUALA LUMPUR (Oct 9): The lead plaintiff in the RM30 million fraud lawsuit against businessman Datuk Vinod Sekhar told the High Court on Thursday that he and other investors were swayed by the tycoon's prominent business profile and international connections when deciding to invest in his ventures.
This came from the testimony of Graham David Bell, who is also the sole plaintiff witness in the suit that he and 11 others filed against Vinod and his wife, Winny Yeap Liew Heoh.
Under re-examination by his counsel Collin Andrew Pereira, Bell stated that the perception of Vinod as a successful and well-connected entrepreneur came not only from their private meetings but also from public materials and discussions with third parties.
He testified that research from newspapers and magazines about the businessman showed he was connected to numerous "prominent people", including former US president Bill Clinton and current Prime Minister Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim.
“The evidence was in private meetings, meetings with him and conversations — evidence in my meetings with Vinod and then research, newspapers and magazines. We saw lots of claims to various very important people, ranging from Anwar to Bill Clinton. There was representation that was in magazines as well,” Bell said.
The alleged investment scam
The plaintiffs invested in what they believed were technology-driven ventures linked to Vinod and his companies between 2002 and 2006. They claim they were misled and suffered losses when the projects failed to materialise.
Bell stated in the suit's statement of claim and his witness statement that he had transferred approximately US$250,000 to Vinod or related companies in 2006. These funds were intended for investment in Delink and Deprotin technologies, which were to be placed into a Guernsey C.I. company called Petra Technologies Ltd.
However, during proceedings on Wednesday, Bell admitted under cross-examination by Vinod’s lawyer, Datuk Seri Rajan Navaratnam, that he had no evidence that Vinod had used Anwar's name to directly solicit these specific investments.
No suit filed previously because investors were 'assured everything was fine'
Explaining why the suit wasn't filed sooner, Bell said investors had been reassured previously that everything was fine, and had no reason to worry.
"In 2006, we didn’t have any reason to see there was a case. We were being told everything was fine. There was no reason to be worried — getting nice emails just saying the shares were fine. For all the plaintiffs, we kept on asking, and eventually our patience wore out.
"I am saying for all the plaintiffs [that] we kept on asking [until] eventually our patience wore out. It's very simple.
"[And then] we started finding out about these cases (allegedly against Vinod) and everything else, and that was when we initiated [this suit]...we realised that our monies were lost," he stated.
The trial before Judicial Commissioner Datuk Muhammad Adam @ Edward Abdullah was filed in May 2023. Of the dozen plaintiffs, 10 were investors and two were former employees of Vinod. They allege fraud, misrepresentation, and breach of contract concerning investments made in the Petra Group of companies between 2002 and 2006. They further claim that Vinod had encouraged investments despite allegedly being bankrupt at the time, and that his wife, Yeap, had conspired with him to induce the investments.
Thursday's proceedings ended after counsel Pereira completed his re-examination of Bell.
The trial will continue on Jan 16, 22 and 23 next year.