KUALA LUMPUR: The application by Datuk Seri Najib Razak, his wife Datin Seri Rosmah Mansor and Baling MP Datuk Seri Abdul Azeez Abdul Rahim to strike out a suit filed by Carpet Raya Sdn Bhd director J. R. Deepak Jaikishan will be heard on May 6, 2020 at the High Court here.
High Court Judicial Commissioner Quay Chew Soon fixed the date during the case management in chambers today.
Lawyer Nasbal Harun represented Deepak and two other plaintiffs, Carpet Raya and Deepak’s younger brother J. Rajesh, who is also a director of the company while Cheryl Chong Wei Teng acted on behalf of the couple and Arwindar Jill appeared for Abdul Azeez.
Nasbal told reporters later that the defendants filed the striking out application on Sept 24 this year, on grounds that the suit was vexatious and the plaintiffs had no cause of action to sue them.
“The court had also ordered all parties to file written submissions by Feb 28, 2020,” he said.
In the suit filed on Nov 15, 2018, Deepak claimed that between 2004 and 2010, he and the company had acted as agent and proxy to Najib and Rosmah in land transaction and business deals as instructed by the couple.
He also claimed that the third defendant (Abdul Azeez) had acted as agent for Najib and Rosmah to carry out the transactions and acted as the intermediary between the couple and the second plaintiff, Carpet Raya.
Deepak claimed that as a result of the transactions, he received a letter from the Inland Revenue Board (IRB), dated March 2, 2018, to settle the arrears in tax owed by Carpet Raya and his income tax, totalling more than RM6 million, excluding penalty charges and interest.
Deepak claimed that he received the letter from IRB after his relations with the couple soured in 2012 following his refusal to follow their instructions in a civil case involving private investigator P. Balasubramaniam, claiming that Abdul Azeez had knowledge of the matter.
The plaintiffs claimed that Najib and Rosmah also ordered legal action to be taken by IRB against Carpet Raya and a winding-up petition was filed against the company on March 22, 2017 by the IRB and the petition was published in newspapers.
They claimed that as a result of the petition, the business and reputation of all the plaintiffs were affected and Deepak was also banned from leaving the country, while their business facilities were withdrawn by Maybank and the company’s contract with IKEA was cancelled.
They are seeking a court declaration that Najib and Rosmah are responsible for paying the tax arrears owed by the company.
They are also seeking damages of RM500,000 which was paid to Maybank, RM47 million for the company’s inability to fulfill its contract and sales, RM74 million for cancellation of the company’s contract with IKEA, RM200 million for alleged defamation and RM37 million in losses caused by Najib’s alleged misconduct.
They are also seeking RM100 million in aggravated and exemplary damages.
— BERNAMA
