The Kuala Lumpur High Court today dismissed an applicatiion by Tajudin Ramli for a stay in the proceedings of the suit brought against him by Malaysia Airlines System for breach of fiduciary duty.

 Justice Rosilah Yop then ordered the trial to proceed for five days from March 12.

tajudin ramli 1 Tajudin's lawyer made the application for a stay in this suit, one of three filed by MAS against Tajudin, the former chairperson and director of the national airline.

In the suit filed in 2006, MAS, along with MAS Golden Holidays Sdn Bhd and MAS Hotels & Boutiques Sdn Bhd, names Tajudin, his former company Naluri Corporation Bhd, Promet (Langkawi) Resorts Sdn Bhd, Kauthar Venture Capital Sdn Bhd and Pakatan Permai Sdn Bhd were named as defendants.

It claims that Tajudin had intentionally breached his various duties or obligations and committed breaches of trust by having MAS procure various contracts for his own interests.

It says Tajudin, as director and chairperson of MAS, neglected advice given to the national carrier nor took the reasonable steps  incumbent on executive, resulting in MAS suffering losses.

MAS also allleged that Tajudin was guilty of unconscionable conduct when holding the senior positions in the airline and used his influence to continue the VIP chartering service with the purchase of a Boeing 737 Business Jet for US$31 million in 1997, despite MAS suffering losses.

The airline says Tajudin also dishonestly concealed his interests in Cendanasari Insurance Brokers Sdn Bhd, in a parcel of land in Langkawi and in a luxury yacht, Colomboio Star.

Besides this suit, there are two others filed by MAS against its former chairperson, namely the MAS and MAS Cargo Sdn Bhd vs Tajudin, former MASKargo vice-president Ralph Manfred Gotz, former MAS director Wan Aishah Wan Hamid and a former consultant Uwe Juergen Beck, for the RM174 million MAS lost in the Hahn operations and €5.5million (RM27 million) that MAS was ordered to pay as an award made in an ICC Arbitration involving ACL Hahn Advanced Cargo Logistics GmbH in Germany.

The other involves MAS Hotels and Boutiques Sdn Bud suing Pakatan Permai Sdn Bhd and Promet (Langkawi) Sdn Bhd, where Tajudin is alleged to have had interests.

 Basically the three suits concern contract cases between MAS and Tajudin and the companies he is said to have interests in, the losses of ACL Hahn and a plot of land in Langkawi that Tajudin is alleged to have owned upon which he built a hotel.

Their statement of claim states that Section 131 of the Companies Act 1965 requires a company director to declare the nature of his interests in a contract or proposed contract with a company.

Monday set for striking out suit

Tajudin, in a retaliatory move, filed a RM500 million defence and counter-claim against MAS and the government, denying he had breached fiduciary duty, trust, or was fraudulent where his obligations were concerned.

He claimed the MAS suit contained bare allegations, with no facts or circumstances cited to back them.

Tajudin denied all allegations of conspiracy and concealment in his statement of claim, charging that it was brought on without any justification, was frivolous and vexatious and an abuse of due process.

He claimed MAS had acted with malice and in bad faith in initiating the suit against him in order to cause injury, damage and embarassment to him, his reputation and business.

He also claimed that the MAS report filed with the Malaysian Anti Corruption Commission against him was defamatory.

With today's decision, the hearing of the government's application to strike out Tajudin's counter claim against the former will continue as scheduled on Monday. Tajudin has also applied to strike out the MAS suit.

Tajudin is believed to have taken this step because, according to him he had reached a settlement with the Malaysian government.

On Feb 14, its was reported that several government linked corporation and Tajudin had arrived a settlement to the RM589 million suit.