In one of the longest standing court cases lasting almost 30 years, a timber company lost an appeal to challenge the decision made by then Sarawak chief minister Abdul Taib Mahmud to revoke its licence following the owners' alleged involvement to topple him.

This follows the Federal Court's dismissal of Keruntum Sdn Bhd's appeal against the Sarawak forestry and resource director, where it ruled that the move by the government not to call Taib, who was also then the minister in charge of resources and planning, to testify was justified.

The apex court found that the company had failed to prove their case and the court was not disturbing the finding of facts made by the High Court, which was further affirmed by the Court of Appeal.

Taib was the chief minister between 1981 and 2014 and is now the governor.

Chief Justice Arifin Zakaria led the five-member bench which dismissed the appeal by the company which was awarded the timber licence in 1983.

The other members in the panel were Justices Hasan Lah, Zainun Ali, Abu Samah Nordin and Aziah Ali.

The CJ also ordered the company to pay RM50,000 costs.

The judgment was read by Justice Hasan but the full written judgment was not made available.

The company was awarded the licence by the then minister Nor Tahir for a land area of 188,926ha for a period of 25 years.

However, on March 11, the company's licence was revoked through a one-sentence letter.

The decision to revoke the licence, the company directors claimed, was politically motivated, following an incident in March 1987 which was popularly known in the state's history as the ‘Ming Court Affair’.

What had happened was that former Sarawak governor, Abdul Rahman Yaakob, who was one of the witnesses who testified in the case in 1987, led a group of state assemblypersons of the Sarawak legislature and their allies to topple Taib.

The attempt failed as the CM dissolved the assembly and caused an election in which the chief minister and his party were returned to government.

The company then brought the case to the High Court and won to set aside the revocation.

The decision was upheld by the Supreme Court where then Lord President Salleh Abbas ruled that the minister of resources planning had failed to abide by the "principle of fairness and prudent administration" to allow the company to make representation as to why its licence should not be cancelled.

Following the Supreme Court decision, the Sarawak assembly amended the Forest Ordinance, which came into effect on Jan 1, 1988.

Following the amendment, the company was given a second revocation order of its licence.

This led to Keruntum filing this civil suit in 1990. 

Taib however did not come to court to testify.

Today JC Foong appeared for Sarawak Forestry and Resource Department while senior lawyer Gopal Sri Ram appeared for Keruntum.