Businessman sues Dr M, govt over Renong share losses

KUALA LUMPUR - Businessman Tan Sri Halim Saad has filed a suit against former prime minister Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad and two other parties to claim compensation for the losses he suffered following the acquisition of the shares of Renong Bhd and United Engineers Malaysia Berhad (UEM) by the government, almost 23 years ago.

The suit was filed by Halim as the plaintiff through Messrs. Malik Imtiaz Sarwar at the High Court here on Aug 2, naming Dr Mahathir, former finance minister II Tan Sri Nor Mohamed Yakcop and the government as defendants.

Based on the statement of claim, Halim, who is the former executive chairman and director of Renong claimed that he intended to make a general offer to privatise UEM as a subsidiary of Renong with the implementation enabling the plaintiff to gain full control and ownership of UEM.

"However, I was instructed by Dr Mahathir and Tan Sri 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.

"I was also instructed to leave UEM and Renong as a shareholder and director including the subsidiaries of the two companies. This obliged me to hand over control of Renong and UEM to the government and further dispose of my Renong shares at a loss," he claimed in the statement of claim.

Halim 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's shares.

"In this way, the government took over UEM and indirectly gained control and indirect ownership over the Renong group," he said.

The plaintiff also claimed that the government's plan to take over UEM and eventually privatise it would not have been achieved without his support.

"The collective and concerted actions of all the defendants caused me to lose control over Renong and indirectly, control over UEM and its highly valuable assets including the North-South Expressway Project (PLUS), Elite Expressway and the Malaysian Second Link (LINKEDUA)," he claimed, adding that he suffered financial losses as a result of the actions of all the defendants.

Therefore, among other things, Halim requested a declaration and compensation with regard to the forced acquisition of shares by the government for the period between July and October 2001.

The plaintiff also requested a declaration that he was a shareholder of Renong and claimed that the government had violated Article 8(1) or Article 13(2) of the Federal Constitution for failing to provide adequate compensation to him.

He also sought an order for the government to compensate him in addition to claiming general damages, exemplary or aggravated damages, interest, costs or relief as deemed appropriate by the court.

In 2013, Halim filed an RM1.8 billion lawsuit against the government, Khazanah and Nor Mohamed after claiming he was defrauded, however, the suit was rejected by the High Court here and he also failed in his appeal at the Federal Court in 2015. - BERNAMA