By Debra Chong
The Malaysian Insider
Aug 13, 2011
KUALA LUMPUR, Aug 13 — Several government-linked companies (GLCs) are perturbed by Datuk Seri Nazri Aziz’s attempts to justify Putrajaya’s intervention into ongoing lawsuits against Tan Sri Tajuddin Ramli and claimed the de facto law minister was giving out misleading information.
Nazri claimed an out-of-court settlement was the best solution. — File picA source close to several parties named in the lengthy series of suits and counter-suits involving Tajuddin pointed out that the former poster boy for Bumiputera entrepreneurship had lost his RM13 billion countersuit against national debt restructuring company Danaharta in 2009.
Among several documents obtained by The Malaysian Insider, a High Court judgment on December 7, 2009 showed trial judge Anatham Kasinather had awarded a total sum of RMRM589,143,205.57 to Danaharta, its two subsidiaries and its four managing directors named as Datuk Azman Yahya, Datuk Abdul Hamidy Hafiz, Datuk Zukri Samat and Datuk Kris Azman Abdullah.
The same trial judge had also dismissed Tajuddin’s RM13 billion countersuit against Danaharta and its agencies a month earlier on November 12, 2009.
The source related that the GLCs and their directors were stunned with disbelief at Nazri’s reasoning that an out-of-court settlement was the best solution to save the federal government billions of ringgit in legal claims.
“Nazri misled the public when he said ‘Our total claims by the companies against Tajuddin are only half a billion ringgit. That is why we said we should sit down and talk’. His claim that Tajuddin has the bargaining power and that the GLCs were disadvantaged is nonsense. The RM13 billion against Danaharta was also plucked from thin air,” the source told The Malaysian Insider yesterday on condition of anonymity.
“Tajuddin was the only one who owed money and Danaharta did not owe him anything,” the source said and quizzed: “So what is there to negotiate?”
Tajuddin allegedly caused MAS to suffer losses in excess of RM8 billionFederal Court judge Tan Sri Md Raus Sharif has been put in charge of managing the ongoing slew suits involving a total 38 parties, including Danaharta and Malaysia Airlines (MAS), due to Tajuddin’s appeal after losing his counter-claim.
The cases have been dragging on for the past 1½ years and have yet to be fixed for hearing at the Court of Appeal.
Nazri had told The Malaysian Insider yesterday that he had written to GLCs earlier this month seeking for them to withdraw their suits, worth at least RM2 billion, to buy time for all concerned parties to reach a “win-win” agreement and put an end to the prolonged financial saga involving Tajuddin.
The minister in the Prime Minister’s Department had said that to defend himself, Tajuddin, who is facing millions in legal claims for allegedly causing MAS to suffer losses in excess of RM8 billion during his tenure, had made a whopping RM13 billion counter-claim.
“Our total claims by the companies against Tajuddin are only half a billion ringgit. That is why we said we should sit down and talk,” he said.
Datuk Seri Najib Razak directly stepped into the fray yesterday to defend his administration’s intervention, saying the move should be seen as an “off-site” solution and not be misconstrued as an out-of-court settlement.
The Najib government’s move to settle all outstanding claims against Tajuddin appears to be an attempt to wipe the slate clean in a financial saga that goes back decades to the height of Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad’s administration.
MAS had first lodged a police report against Tajuddin in 2002 for allegedly causing the flag carrier to suffer losses in excess of RM8 billion. Tajuddin was the executive chairman of the airline from 1994 to 2001.
Psst, Nazzri, my neighbour’s son owes several banks a lot of money which he is unable to pay. Would you also kindly “advise” ( meaning instruct or order ) those banks to opt for an out-of-court settlement, that is to say, not to declare him a bankrupt?
Networking…see you must network and see the benefits…
This is their culture work to find a way to make many millions-steal, cheat, or rob whatever it need to get it
Country don’t have enough money go borrow billions put all Malaysians as guarantor pay the debt many generations
This is what they called their mindset and culture – steal, liar, cheating are not crime illegal
Nazri says when the credit card company mistakenly withholds approval for any transaction, sue them for RM 10 million, and they will settle it by giving you RM 1 million. That’s how they save RM 9 million. Phew ! What a close shave !
///Nazri claimed an out-of-court settlement was the best solution.///
Settlement done via the court will allow cans of worms to be opened to the public and subsequently dampen BN’s chances of winning more seats in GE13.
I bet Nazri’s out-of-court settlement is to prevent cans of worms from being opened to the public.
Here is the problem.. Why is the very busy and burden PMO directly getting involved with Tajuddin, who by all account is not a major corporate-political player anymore? The PMO does not have enough list of things to do, issues, and projects to do?
If you ask me, it smells of back-room dealing for the benefits of UMNO/BN politicians or the party itself. In other words it smells corruption and abuse…
A Govt. agency claims I owe them a few thousand ringgit going back to the ’90s. Even though I had clarified and explained with proof several times since they still come back with the same idiotic demand.
I think I will sue them for RM10m for mental aggravation and force them to seek an out of court settlement with “advice” from Nazri. Using Nazri’s rationale, the Govt will be saving RM9.995m. Hey, how about it? Good deal for the Govt. eh?
Jokes aside. This whole shmuck is not Nazri’s idea. He is just the fall guy. Najib, and even a more powerful hidden hand is behind this to hide the truth from coming out in an open court. With elections so near, they cannot afford this as another BN scandal. They hope to quickly bury this problem before it becomes another sticky issue during the GE. But, typical of BN/UMNO bungling, the inability to use their thought process led them to believe that the rakyat would be so gullible as to accept the dumb explanation from Nazri. Now that the shxt has hit the ceiling fan, they are backpedalling again to try to cover up their mess.
Just a wild thought. Could this out of court settlement be an attempt to raise funds for the UMNO war chest for the coming GE?
If the BN Govt. can succeed in dropping all RM13b claims against TR, TR in return will make a generous “donation” to the war chest. Why pay RM13b back to the rakyat? It can be put to better use for the GE. This is a “safe” way to raise much needed funds for the GE since it has been severely depleted in the various “buy” elections and the Sarawak elections. Furthermore, the original scam using only external agencies for the foreign workers’ biometric registration, which could have raised billions for the war chest, have also fallen flat after the scam was questioned in public.
Hey, Nazri why be the fall guy and mouthpiece…come join the other party and come clean…hold you head high…
Help to clean up the mess…good for your soul…
It is high time that the MACC investigates Nazri and Tajuddin Ramli to find out what is the “real deal” behind the out-of-court settlement.
No intelligence ever comes out from those ketuanan ret@rds. every statement they make is a joke. From muyiddin to kerismuddin. from zulfifli to Ali. From patahi all the way to nazri.
There we have our stupid tuans. probably not just stupid but corrupted as well.
This Nazri fella, must think that we are all fools. The only guy owing money is Tajuddin, what is there to negotiate. Just ask him to pay up. If he cannot, let the court decide what action to take.
I suspect that Nazri is just arrogant and dare us to see what we can do, to UMNO, if they wish to cheat us again.
Listen to how quiet all the BN components are.
We need to change the tenant at Putrajaya, and GE 13 is our best chance. Please work hard, Failure is not an option.
Dis is Y rakyat is pharked big big by NR n gang all d time
D other day, NR was praised by many when he announced dat d temp in gomen buildings must not b lower than 24C 2 save energy n $
Save $$ 4 what? Here save mayb RM50 million, then next thing NR n his UmnoB thieves steal RM1 billion or more 4 themselves
C’mon lah, rakyat, don’t b skrued by NR n gang/thieves all d time! Kick them out!
Those who vote them indirectly are the thieves in heart as well
They continue vote them blindly with no moral ground
They continue vote them encourage to steal, lie, and cheating
Put them all carry bad name tag THIEVES, LIAR, PIRATES
And they feel proud of carry it
Don’t just feel upset or talk anonymously. It is useless.