The High Court today struck out a suit brought by a student against Khazanah Nasional Bhd after he had failed to obtain a scholarship offered by the investment arm of the government for study at the University of Cambridge.

Judge John Louis O’Hara ruled that the claim by Chan Zian Yao, 19, against Khazanah and three others was closer to no reasonable cause of action and held that the suit was frivolous and vexatious and an abuse of the court process.

He made the ruling after allowing the application by Khazanah and the three others to strike out the suit. He also ordered Chan to pay RM5,000 in costs to the defendants.

Chan had filed the suit on Aug 18 through the law firm of his father Chan Chow Wang, naming Khazanah chief executive officer Azman Mokhtar, its director Azman Mohd Hussein, Khazanah and Yayasan Khazanah as the defendants.

The elder Chan, who represented his son, told reporters later that he would appeal against the court's decision. Counsel Nitin Nadkarni acted for the defendants.

Student Chan had sought a declaration to invalidate the three scholarships given out by Khazanah and also claimed compensation and damages for distress and embarrassment as a result of not being selected for the scholarship.

Chan, who has been offered a place at the University of Cambridge for a four-year Chemical Engineering via Natural Sciences degree starting last October, claimed that the defendants had not carried out a fair and proper selection process.

He claimed that Yayasan Khazanah sent him an e-mail merely stating that his application was unsuccessful without giving any reason.

Chan said in a newspaper report dated June 11 that the defendants had announced three recipients of the scholarship but did not divulge details such as their names, the courses pursued or their academic achievements.

The Khazanah-Cambridge Scholarship was established in 2009 to provide financial sponsorship to Malaysian citizens with excellent academic results who wish to study at the University of Cambridge.

- Bernama