"If you are successful in making your claim against me, I will also seek an indemnity from 22 former and current (members of the) Sime Darby board of directors," said former chief executive officer Ahmad Zubair @ Ahmad Zubir Murshid.

This was stated in his third-party notice filed earlier this month against 22 people who include one-time deputy premier Musa Hitam.

NONE Ahmad Zubir (right) also named Ahmad Sarji Abdul Hamid and Samsudin Osman who had served as chief secretary to the government, as well as former attorney-general Abu Talib Othman.

He said the reason for his action was that the 22 were then on the board of directors in Sime Darby and made up the highest decision-making body in the company.

A third-party notice is where the defendant gets others to pay the claim (indemnity), if the plaintiffs are successful in their claim against him.

Others named in the notice are Dr Arifin Mohamad Siregar, Dr Wan Mohd Zahid Mohd Noordin, Dr Ahmad Tajuddin Ali, Raja Arshad Raja Tun Uda, Sheng Len Tao, Mohamed Sulaiman, Henry Sackville Barlow and Dr Abdul Halim Ismail.

Also named are Zaitoon Othman (former solicitor-general), Sekhar Krishnan,  Mohd Ramli Kushairi, Ahmad Zabri Ibrahim, Dr Mohamad Ariffin Aton, Raja Zaharaton Raja Zainal Abidin, Tengku Ahmad Tengku Yahya, Michael Wong Pakshong @ Michael Paksong, Khatijah Ahmad and Raja Muhammad Alias Raja Muhammad Ali.

The third-party notice dated March 8, 2008 was filed for both suits by Sime Darby against Ahmad Zubir, namely the Bakun Dam project and the firm's oil and gas project.

The notice was filed by the firm of Kumar Partnership at the Kuala Lumpur High Court registry.

Ahmad Zubir and four others are facing a RM338 million suit following alleged losses in the Qatar oil and gas venture, and another RM92.2 million suit with two other defendants for apparent losses in the Bakun dam project.

In the oil and gas venture, the plaintiffs which are suing Ahmad Zubir are Sime Darby Bhd, Sime Darby Engineering Sdn Bhd, Sime Darby Energy Sdn Bhd, Sime Darby Marine Sdn Bhd and Sime Darby Marine (Hong Kong) Pte Ltd.

For the Bakun dam project, the plaintiffs seeking losses include Sime Darby Bhd, Sime Engineering Sdn Bhd, Sime Darby Holdings Bhd, and Sime Darby Energy Sdn Bhd.

Ahmad Zubair's defence

In his statement of defence for the oil and gas and Bakun Dam projects, Ahmad Zubir stated that the plaintiffs had disregarded the functions of the various board committees and the collective responsibility of the main board and the company's supervisory committee.

azlan "In the Bakun dam project, I am insulated from the workings of the divisions, given that the responsibility for their management was vested in the supervisory committee and divisional heads who report to the group chief operating officer on all operational matters.”

He also claimed the plaintiffs had ed to sufficiently describe his role that he is allegedly culpable (responsible for the loss).

Ahmad Zubir alleged, in the oil and gas claim, that Tajuddin, as a member of the main board, and chairperson of Sime Engineering Services Bhd, had approved the expansion of the oil and gas project.

"After the merger of Sime Darby, Tajuddin headed the energy and utilities division. As the chairman of the supervisory committee, he had approved the oil and gas business project," he said in his defence.

Ahmad Zubir said that, at the material time, cost over-runs, lengthy delays or other claims were not foreseeable in the Engineering Procurement Construction Installation and Commissioning.

The Sime Darby suit is fixed for case management on Wednesday.