KUALA LUMPUR: The High Court has dismissed an appeal by three directors of a travel and tour agency, which includes an Umno leader, in a civil suit filed by an umrah and hajj company over the refund of cancelled flight tickets.
Justice Leong Wai Hong, in his decision dated Feb 11, affirmed the findings of the Sessions Court that said the appellants had committed fraud by pocketing RM492,480 meant for umrah pilgrims after their trips were cancelled during the Covid-19 pandemic.
The appellants, Umno Kangar chief Datuk Dr Fathul Bari Mat Jahya, Sekh Mohd Fazzli Sekh Mohd Ruzi and Wan Azizul Wan Yusoff, claimed the Sessions Court erred when it found they had committed fraud.
The three men were directors and shareholders of now-defunct Rehla Travel Services Sdn Bhd, a company that provides flight reservation services and a ticket agent for Malaysia Airlines Bhd.
In February 2020, the respondent KRS Travel Sdn Bhd, a company that arranges umrah and hajj services for Malaysians in Mecca, sought the service of Rehla to book and purchase flight tickets for their clients to Madinah and Jeddah and paid them RM492,480.
Rehla then made the payment to Malaysia Airlines for the bookings, which was confirmed. However, during the Covid-19 pandemic, the tickets were cancelled.
Rehla later issued a demand against Malaysia Airlines for the return of the monies and received a sum of RM1.3mil in an amicable settlement.
However, it claimed that the settlement did not include the refund of RM492,480 paid by KRS Travel and maintained that KRS Travel should direct their claim against Malaysia Airlines.
The Sessions Court had held that fraud was committed.
In the appeal, Justice Leong said the facts of the case showed a "sad case of greed prevailing over spiritual needs" of the plaintiff's clients who had paid for their pilgrimage to Mecca.
He said an appellate court, without good reason, should not interfere with findings of fact by a trial judge.
"I see no reason to disturb the findings of fact by the lower court. Malaysia Airlines had made the full refund of the settlement sum of RM1.3mil to Rehla, which included the refund of RM492,480 belonging to the plaintiff (KRS Travel) and paid to Rehla for the purchase of the tickets for plaintiff's clients to Madinah and Jeddah.
"For the reasons above, the appeal is dismissed with costs of RM20,000," Justice Leong said.
Fathul Bari and the other two directors filed an appeal at the Court of Appeal on Jan 8.
