UEM-Renong suit: Court to hear Halim's bid to refer constitutional questions on May 14

KUALA LUMPUR: Tycoon Tan Sri Halim Saad's application to refer two constitutional questions to the Federal Court relating to the UEM-Renong suit against Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad and two others will be heard on May 14 at the High Court here.

The two others are former Finance Minister II Tan Sri Nor Mohamed Yakcop and the government.

Federal Counsel Imtiyaz Wizni Aufa Othman, who appeared for the three defendants, confirmed the matter after case management before Judge Dr Suzana Muhamad Said.

The first question Halim is seeking to refer to the Federal Court is whether his claim against the defendants on a breach of his right to equal treatment and the right to property under the Federal Constitution is time-barred.

The second question is whether he is stopped from raising the issue of breaches of fundamental rights by reason of a previous suit filed by him in 2003. The application was filed last Dec 18.

Based on the statement of claim filed by the businessman on Aug 2, he intended to make a general offer to privatise UEM as a subsidiary of Renong, thereby enabling him to gain full control and ownership of UEM.

However, the plaintiff claimed that he was instructed by Dr Mahathir and Nor Mohamed not to proceed with the general offer because the government wanted to take over all the shares in UEM through a designated entity namely Khazanah Nasional Berhad (Khazanah) or a party to be nominated by Khazanah.

He added that he was also instructed to leave UEM and Renong as a shareholder and director, including the subsidiaries of the two companies (and) this obliged him to hand over control of Renong and UEM to the government and further dispose of his Renong shares at a loss.

He claimed that Khazanah had acquired all of UEM’s shares through its subsidiary, Danasaham Sdn Bhd, thereby gaining control over UEM, which at the time owned 32.6 per cent of Renong shares.

Therefore, he is claiming, among other things, compensation for the forced takeover by the government between July and October 2001 and a declaration that he is a Renong shareholder.

Meanwhile, the defendants, in their defence statement, denied having forcibly taken over the shareholding of the two companies as the takeover was approved by Halim, who received RM165mil in compensation.- Bernama