April 10, 2018
Malaysia court rules no wrongdoing by ruling party.
Malaysia’s High Court on Monday (April 9) ruled that there was no evidence that showed the 1Malaysia Development Berhad (1MDB) state fund suffered losses of US$3.7 billion (S$4.8 billion).
The court also ruled that there was no proof of misconduct by members of the company’s board of directors.
Judge Datuk Nik Hasmat Nik Mohamad also said the Attorney-General and the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC) had already previously stated that Prime Minister Najib Razak was not involved in the scandal involving 1MDB.
She made the ruling after allowing an application by Datuk Seri Najib and 13 members of the 1MDB Board of Directors, as well as two others, to dismiss a suit by a former senator, Mohamad Ezam Mohd Nor against them over the alleged loss incurred by the company.
She also said Mohamad Ezam had no locus standi to file the suit. In the judgment, she said the court found that Mohamad Ezam, in his affidavit-in-reply, stated that he was not a member of the 1MDB board of directors or a share holder in the company nor had any interests in 1MDB.
Datuk Nik Hasmat said the court also found that there was no cause of reasonable action in the claim by Mohamad Ezam and that the suit was petty, an inconvenience and an abuse of the court process.
“Therefore, the court strikes out the suit filed by the plaintiff against all the defendants and orders the plaintiff to pay costs of RM63,000 to all the defendants,” she said.
Mr Najib filed the application to dismiss the suit on July 12, 2017, on the grounds that Mohamad Ezam, as president of the Parti Bebas Rasuah party, had no locus standi to file the suit.
Besides Mr Najib, who was named the first defendant, members of 1MDB’s board of directors also filed an application to dismiss the suit.
In the statement of claim, Mohamad Ezam contended that the US$6.5 billion loan which 1MDB secured with the help of Goldman Sachs International Ltd should have been deposited into the company s account.
Instead, he said, the defendants had negligently allowed US$3.657 billion of the amount to go to unauthorised parties.
He had sought for all the defendants to bear the losses and reimburse the US$3.657 billion to 1MDB with interest, cost and other relief deemed fit by the court.