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Wednesday, October 10, 2018

Another MACC report on Samudera case

KOTA KINABALU - Two retired government servants from the Bagahak Smallholders Scheme suspect is political interference in an alleged case withdrawal involving three people who were ordered by the High Court to pay damages amounting RM557 million to Borneo Samudera Sdn Bhd (BSSB) four years ago.

They were a retired policeman, Andurangan Tubai, a native Dusun Bagahak, and a retired Customs Department officer Ettin Ali, a native Idahan.

They lodged a report with the MACC on Tuesday, accompanied by Datu Shuaib Mutalib, a political activist from Tungku, Lahad Datu.

Datu Shuaib said in a statement they lodged the report because they suspect political interference that led to the withdrawal of the case that was won by BSSB at the time.

They said such action could undermine the interests of BSSB, which is a subsidiary of government-linked company Sawit Kinabalu Sdn Bhd.

This was a follow-up of a report lodged on October 2 by Datu Shuaib who urged the MACC to investigate the case for elements of corruption or abuse of power by authorities involved.

In October 2014, the Kota Kinabalu High Court ordered three people – including an elected representative – to pay damages to BSSB for unlawfully inducing the Bahagak Smallholders Scheme participants to breach their Joint Venture Agreement (JVA) with the company.

Justice Chew Soo Ho in his judgement reportedly found that BSSB had proven the requisite conditions in law of inducement of breach of contract.

BSSB claimed RM557 million in damages, reportedly believed to be the highest in the Malaysian judicial history ever to be awarded either singly or jointly against a serving elected representative.

Datu Shuaib added in the statement that the appeal case by the defendants has been delayed for four years but learned recently that the case might have been withdrawn. - DE

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