Three business associates, including a former Royal Malaysian Air Force (RMAF) head, are suing MCA president Dr Ling Liong Sik, his son and two companies over share deal agreements which the former allege went wrong.

Retired RMAF chief Mohamed Ngah Said, his daughter Lynette and Chen Then Song are asking the court to declare two shares-related agreements which they entered into with the defendants in 1997 to be declared invalid and unenforceable.

They are also seeking unspecified damages from Ling, his son Ling Hee Leong, and two companies involving the former, Linksun Avenue and Rekapacific. The suit was filed at the Kuala Lumpur Civil High Court yesterday.

According to the plaintiff's statement of claim, they were approached by Hee Leong and fugitive businessman and Ling's former ally, Soh Chee Wen, to facilitate Hee Leong's acquisition of Rekapacific from Berjaya Group using Linksun Avenue.

(Soh fled the country in 1999. The Malaysian Securities Commission has obtained a warrant of arrest against him to facilitate investigations into allegations of shares manipulation in public-listed companies.)

Breach of promise

Subsequently, the plaintiffs said that they entered into a shares deal which involved purchasing securities of Berjaya Singer from various subsidiaries of Berjaya Group in 1997.

They then had entered into agreements with Ling and his son, allowing the defendants to takeover Rekapacific but leaving the plaintiffs assuming the liabilities connected with the Berjaya Group through various share-dealing manoeuvrers.

The three said that the agreements made it possible for Ling's son, Hee Leong, to purchase Rekapacific.

The plaintiffs, however, claim that they never received any of the Berjaya Singer securities after the completion of the takeover, adding that the defendants had also breached their verbal warranty of not acting upon the share agreements which were only executed for the purposes of the completion of the acquisition.

The plaintiffs also claim that Ling and Hee Leong are now pursuing legal action against them over the dealings.

"We have no other option but to commence this suit for breach of promise," Mohd Ngah, his daughter and Chen said in their statement of claim.

RM3 million loan

Last year, Soh had filed a suit in Kuala Lumpur High Court through a local lawyer against Ling, Hee Leong and several other parties, claiming a total sum of RM149 million.

He had claimed that the amount was from the sale of shares in Autoways Bhd to help Hee Leong purchase Rekapacific. Soh is also seeking another RM3 million which he said was given as a loan to Hee Leong.

On June 13, Linksun Avenue was sued by an Autoways minority shareholder, Abdul Razak Abdul Jalil, over its purported purchase of a 37 percent stake in Autoways in 1996.

Abdul Razak is seeking a court order to compel Linksun Avenue to make a general offer for Autoways shares at RM25 each or pay damages to the minority shareholders.