The much awaited contempt inquiry against Metramac Corporation Sdn Bhd's lawyer Muhammad Shafee Abdullah over a complaint letter he had written alleging misconduct by Justice Gopal Sri Ram, failed to take off today.

The Court of Appeal adjourned the proceeding to March 2 after being told by Senior Federal Counsel Umi Kalthum Abdul Majid that the Attorney-General Abdul Gani Patail wanted to address the court on the matter personally.

"We hope that the court would grant us a postponement as the Attorney-General has indicated his interest to appear before the court personally to address the matter at hand," said Umi Kalthum.

The court not only allowed the postponement but also expressed its gratitude to the AG for his 'personal interest' in the matter.

"There was no need for him to appear personally and we do not expect him to. Please convey our gratitude to the Attorney-General for taking a personal interest in this matter," said Gopal who sat with Justices Hashim Yusoff and Zulkefli Ahmad Makinuddin.

On Jan 26, the court reprimanded Shafee over letters he had sent to Court of Appeal President Abdul Malek Ahmad and Chief Justice Ahmad Fairuz Sheikh Abdul Halim alleging Gopal had committed judicial misconduct in the course of the appeal between Metramac Sdn Bhd and Fawziah Holdings.

The letter was over Gopal's remarks made in his judgement against Metramac co-owner Halim Saad and former finance minister Daim Zainuddin. Gopal has alleged that Shafee's letter was contemptuous and an attempt to muzzle a judge.

Tickled audience

On Jan 12, Gopal had ordered Metramac - the concessionaire of the East-West Link Expressway and Sungai Besi Expressway- to pay RM65 million in compensation to Fawziah Holdings for loss of advertising rights.

The case attracted public attention when Gopal - in his judgment - accused Halim and his former business partner Anuar Other of siphoning RM32.5 million from Metramac under the patronage of Daim.

Halim and Daim have since denied the allegations.

Earlier today in court, Shafee's counsel DP Vijandran asked the court's direction over the proceeding against his client as he was unclear on how he should present his case for his client.

The court told Vijandran that he was to satisfy the court that the letter was not contemptuous and the appropriate punishment in the event that the court rules that the document was in contempt.

Gopal also tickled counsel and those seated at the packed public gallery when he thanked Vijandran for representing Shafee in the proceeding.

"We were initially very worried that Shafee would be representing himself. Quoting Abraham Lincoln: a lawyer who represents himself has a fool for a client."

Client fearful

In a related proceeding, the court set March 1 to deliver its decision as to whether to grant Metramac a stay of execution for the RM65 million compensation awarded to Fawziah Holdings.

Muhammad Shafee argued that the court should grant the unconditional stay as there was already an injunction issued by the court which prevents the company from disposing funds exceeding RM100 million.

He urged the court not to set an exorbitant sum as deposit as part of the stay condition stating that it would oppressive to his client who is not likely to abuse or breach the present injunction.

However, Fawziah Holdings' lawyer Dr Cyrus Das argued that the several conditions must be imposed in the event the court grants the stay to protect his client's interest.

He called on the court to impose certain conditions including increasing the deposit from RM100 million to RM200 million, to allow his client to inspect Metramac's statements of account and to appoint a monitoring accountant.

He said these conditions are important as the latest development in Metramac's accounts has brought fear to his clients that they would not receive the judgment sum award especially after repeated requests for a full report of the company's account went unheeded.

"We are concerned about the safekeeping of the assets of Metramac. Large sums have been paid out as dividends plus a cash advance to an outside company. At the end of December 2005, a total of RM160 million has been paid out."

Not 100% wool ...

He further said that the assets that Metramac now had were "non-cash properties".

"The company's balance assets primarily comprise of plant and equipment (RM774,000), system heavy repairs (RM6.1 million), system development expenditure (RM2.8 million) and express way development expenditure (RM100.7 million).

"These are not realisable assets and which would be returned to the government at the end of the concession period which ends in 2012 ."

Another of Fawziah Holdings' counsel Benjamin Dawson explained that these "unrealisable assets" were mere accounting terms and not something his client 'can put their hands on' in the event they want to execute the judgment."

Gopal: "What you are suggesting is that these people are trying to pull wool over your eyes with these so-called assets. And it's not even 100% wool [...] it's 50% is polyester. When we pull it down, we don't see anything tangible in the assets."

Dawson: "Yes. They are not realisable assets and cannot be used as protection."

When Das further expressed his client's worry that they may "end up getting only a paper judgment", Gopal interjected and said: "Yes, it would be like owning 5,000 acres of land on the moon. You'll never be able to get your hands on it. You can't even breathe the air."

Meanwhile, the ex-parte motion filed by Fawziah Holdings owner Fawziah Karim ( pix ) to commit Metramac and its directors for contempt over alleged breach of an order preventing them from disposing the company's assets up to RM100 million was postponed indefinitely.