This might be a test case and a taste of the future of other cases by the government and its agencies against any outstanding legal cases against other possibly well-connected VVIPs.

The one possible reason for trying to settle out of court, could be that these 'connected' persons may have incriminating evidence against others in positions of power, be they senior civil servants or politicians.

The danger of an open court case may implicate some of them which can be very embarrassing for those in power. The ongoing PKFZ case has exposed how the contracts, agreements, clauses, terms and so on were misinterpreted that are suspected of having resulted in billions of losses in the rakyat's funds.

There could be a fear that legal cases against Tajuddin may expose others in power and thus the option of out of court settlements which may not be revealed to the rakyat and thus cover up any misdeeds of those in power in the recent past and in the present.  

What happened to all the cases reported to the police/ACA many years ago of suspected mismanagement/fraud in MAS such as the cost of supplying food to passengers? Or the UMBC case where Sime Darby was involved, with the case now over two decades outstanding.  

It is common in the corporate sector not to take major disputes to open court as most of them may be due to non-compliance of internal controls and/or poor documentation and ineptitude of members of board of directors and senior management.  

The position may not be any different in the case of the government and its agencies/authorities. Lack of action in the many cases of suspected mismanagement/fraud as noted in the regularly issued Auditor General’s Reports is evidence of this, and some of the cases were reported several decades ago.