The Court of Appeal in Putrajaya today granted a postponement to businessman Tajudin Ramli of the hearing of the appeals in civil suits brought against him by Celcom (Malaysia) Berhad, pending discussions on out-of-court settlement between him and the company.

A three-member panel chaired by Justice Jeffrey Tan Kok Wha fixed April 9 for the next hearing date of the appeals and a motion in the event parties in the suit failed to reach the settlement.

The two other judges sitting on the bench with Justice Tan were Justices Clement Allan Skinner and Aziah Ali.

The postponement application was made by Tajudin’s lawyer Lim Kian Leong, and lawyer RS Nathan, representing Celcom, did not object to the postponement of the appeals concerning a High Court’s decision in disallowing Tajudin and other former directors’ applications to strike out two civil suits brought against them.

When asked by Justice Jeffrey, Nathan confirmed that parties in the suit were trying to settle the case.

Celcom sued its former directors including Tajudin to recover RM880 million it had to pay DeTeAsia Holdings GmbH, a unit of Deutsche Telekom, following an arbitration award DeTeAsia obtained against Celcom in the International Court of Arbitration of the International Chamber of Commerce on Aug 2, 2005 in a breach of contract case.

The company (Celcom) sought its former directors including Axel Hass and  Oliver Tim Axmann to indemnify the company (Celcom) all the sums it had paid to DeTeAsia following the arbitration award.

Alleged breach of fiduciary duties

Celcom commenced proceedings in the High Court against Tajudin and its other former directors for breach of their fiduciary duties.

In 2003, Telekom Malaysia Bhd offered RM2.75 per Celcom share when it offered to buy the rest of the mobile operator. Deutsche Telekom then sold its shares at that price but it had filed for arbitration, claiming another RM4.25 a share in damages.

The German firm claimed that it was promised RM7 a share under an agreement with the previous Celcom board led by Tajudin.

On Feb 14, Tajudin withdrew his appeals after he and Pengurusan Danaharta Nasional Bhd reached an out-of-court settlement concerning a civil suit filed six years ago over RM589 million debts incurred by the corporate figure over the purchase of MAS shares.

Tajudin also withdrew his counter-claim against numerous other litigants including Telekom Malaysia Bhd, Naluri Corporations, Celcom (M) Berhad, Atlan Holding Bhd and CIMB Group.

On Feb 16, a court of appeal also allowed Tajudin’s application for a three-month postponement of appeals in civil suits against Malaysian Airline System Bhd.    

- Bernama