Tajudin Ramli, who has been in the news this week for withdrawing his appeal against several government-linked corporations (GLCs), was today granted postponement of his appeal in three suits he faces from Malaysia Airlines (MAS).

These include the RM174 million suit filed by MAS against Tajudin for damages the national carrier wants its former boss to pay. This involves losses and indemnity MAS was ordered to pay in an award made in an ICC Arbitration involving ACL Hahn Advanced Cargo Logistics GmbH in Germany.  

The application for postponement was made by Tajudin’s lawyer, Lim Kian Leong, before a three-member panel of the Court of Appeal today.

"Parties have agreed to seek an adjournment to enable the working out of a settlement," Lim told the court.

The panel, headed by Justice Abu Samah Nordin, granted a three-month postponement until May 10. The other two judges are Syed Ahmad Helmy Syed Ahmad and Alizatul Khair Osman.

This is in view of the possibility of Tajudin settling the suits with MAS.

The other suits MAS filed against the former chairperson of the national carrier are for breach of fiduciary duties and obligation to declare his interests in matters related to transactions involving MAS.

On Tuesday, it was reported that Tajudin had agreed to withdraw his appeal and settled action involving various GLCs, including the Ministry of Finance-owned Pengurusan Danaharta Nasional Bhd, the manager of the debt.

Tajudin also withdrew his lawsuit against numerous other litigants, including Telekom Malaysia Bhd, Naluri Corporation, Celcom (M) Bhd, Atlan Holding Bhd and CIMB Group.

The details of the settlement were not disclosed at the hearing.

The Kuala Lumpur High Court had in 2009 struck out Tajudin's RM13 billion counter-claim and ordered him to pay RM589 million for the debt he incurred in acquiring MAS.

Yesterday, Petaling Jaya Utara MP Tony Pua, had accused MAS of also writing off Tajudin's RM589 million debt as part of the settlement.

  The three suits

Tajudin was MAS chairperson from 1994 to 2001, after buying a 32 percent controlling stake in MAS.

MAS, along with its two subsidiaries MAS Golden Holidays Sdn Bhd and MAS Hotels & Boutique Sdn Bhd, named Tajudin and his former company Naluri Corporation Bhd, Promet (Langkawi) Resorts Sdn Bhd, Kauthar Venture Capital Sdn Bhd and Pakatan Permai Sdn Bhd in its 2006 suit.

The other suits are 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.

The last suit was filed by MAS Hotels and Boutiques Sdn Bhd against Pakatan Permai Sdn Bhd and Promet (Langkawi) Sdn Bhd, where Tajudin is alleged to have had interests.

Basically the three suits involve 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 and built a hotel on.

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.

Tajudin's RM500 million counter-claim

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

It is learnt that the Court of Appeal heard his plea for postponement today after the High Court in Shah Alam and in Kuala Lumpur struck out his counter-claim.

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