KOTA KINABALU: It is the end of the road for Sabah Forest Industries Sdn Bhd (SFI) after it failed to obtain leave to appeal to the Federal Court against a Sept 10, 2025, decision declaring it lawfully wound-up and hopelessly insolvent.
During the court proceedings on Wednesday (May 13), the Federal Court, in a unanimous ruling, dismissed SFI’s application for leave to appeal with costs of RM40,000 after hearing oral submissions from Sabah Development Bank Bhd, who was an intervener in the proceedings.
“SFI failed to show that an appeal to the Federal Court involved a novel question of law or one of public importance requiring a decision of Malaysia’s apex Court,” said Tengku Fuad Tengku Ahmad, who acted for the Sabah Development Bank.
He said SFI’s grounds merely involved the application of settled law to the unique facts of its case.
“Therefore, the Federal Court did not agree that there was any novel question of law or public advantage that required clarification by the Court,” he said.
Fuad said SFI was nearly two years late in serving its Notice of Appeal on Sabah Development Bank and therefore had its appeal in the Court of Appeal struck out.
He said as far as the issue of SFI being a wound-up company is concerned the matter is now settled once and for all.
“The time has come for SFI’s assets to be liquidated and its creditors paid,” he said, adding that SFI also had its timber concessions cancelled by the State Government.
