Court allows Merong Mahawangsa, executive director leave to appeal

PUTRAJAYA: The Federal Court gave the nod to Merong Mahawangsa Sdn Bhd and its executive director on Tuesday to appeal against a Court of Appeal ruling to pay RM20mil in fees to businessman Datuk Shazryl Eskay Abdullah for his services in procuring the controversial 'crooked bridge' project in Johor Baru.

A five-member panel chaired by Chief Judge of Sabah and Sarawak Tan Sri Richard Malanjum unanimously allowed the application for leave to appeal by developer, Merong Mahawangsa and Datuk Yahya Abdul Jalil.

The panel which also comprised Federal Court judges Tan Sri Suriyadi Halim Omar, Datin Paduka Zaleha Zahari, Datuk Zainun Ali and Datuk Seri Abu Samah Nordin allowed one question of law to be deliberated at the appeal stage.

The question was, whether an agreement to provide services to influence a public decision maker to award a contract is a contract opposed to public policy as defined under Section 24 (e) of the Contracts Act 1950 and therefore void.

On April 3, last year, the Court of Appeal had allowed Eskay's appeal, entitling him to receive RM20mil in commission fees from Merong Mahawangsa and Yahya for services rendered.

Prior to that on May 5, 2011, the High Court had dismissed Eskay's civil suit against Merong Mahawangsa and Yahya for breach of contract after ruling that he (Eskay) was not entitled to claim payment because the project was terminated.

The Malaysia-Singapore International Gateway project to replace the Johor-Singapore Causeway (dubbed the crooked bridge) was terminated by the government on April 12, 2006 despite the commencement of preliminary works.

Merong Mahawangsa was paid RM155mil in compensation by the Government for canceling the project.

Eskay, who is one of the 'Datuk T' trio, who revealed a sex video allegedly showing an opposition leader having sex with a prostitute, filed the suit in 2002 claiming that Yahya had, in 1998, sought his help to procure the project from the government and to seek foreign funding for the RM640mil project.

He further claimed that Yahya had sought his help for his good ties with the government and that he had also taken Yahya to the residence of Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim, the Finance Minister at that time, to discuss the project.

Yahya, in his defence, denied using Eskay's good ties with the government as doing so was "against public policy and illegal."

He also denied that Merong Mahawangsa was awarded the bridge project by the Government.

Counsel Datuk Firoz Hussein Ahmad Jamaluddin represented Merong Mahawangsa and Yahya, while counsel Datuk C.V. Prabhakaran appeared for Eskay. - Bernama