Material Litigation

ABB is a wholly owned subsidiary of AFFIN Holdings Berhad (“AHB”).

This  is  a claim by the Plaintiff against ABB vide Writ of  Summons  and Statement of Claim dated 22 January 2016 (“Writ”) for alleged losses amounting to RM56 million with interest  at 5% per annum from the date of the Writ until full settlement due to several alleged wrongful acts by ABB as set out herein. ABB had filed Defence on 9 March 2016.

ABB had on 23 January 1996 given Suria  Barisan (M) Sdn  Bhd (“Suria”) a credit  facility of RM21.6million (“Facility”) against security of unquoted shares and guaranteed by the Plaintiff and one, Puan Norashikin Binti Abdul Latiff (“Guarantor”).

Suria, the Plaintiff and the Guarantor defaulted in repayment of the Facility which led to ABB filing a debt recovery action against all of them ("Debt Recovery Action"). Judgement was obtained against Suria, the Plaintiff and the Guarantor on 8 July 2004.

ABB made the Plaintiff bankrupt on 17 January 2013. However, the Plaintiff’s application to set-aside the bankruptcy was allowed by the Kuala Lumpur High Court on 30 September 2015. ABB has filed an appeal to the Court of Appeal and Case Management ("CM") was fixed on 20 April 2016. However the CM has since been postponed to 11 May 2016.

The Plaintiff‘s claim (“Claim”) is premised on alleged wrongful acts by ABB as follows:-

1. failure to sell 7.2 million shares in Naval Dockyard Sdn Bhd  (“NDSB   Shares”) which was pledged by Suria to the Bank as security for the Facility;
2. allowed the release of the Guarantor from her liability upon payment of a certain sum pursuant to her Guarantee without giving the same opportunity to the Plaintiff;
3. ABB had wrongfully initiated court proceedings against the Plaintiff without first selling off  the NDSB Shares; and
4. ABB had corresponded with the opponent of Plaintiff in Singapore to prevent the Plaintiff from claiming his assets in Singapore.

ABB has a good defence on the merits with regard to each of the alleged wrongful act as follows:-

1. the sale of NDSB Shares was subject to the approval from the relevant authorities as per the terms of the Facility Agreement;
2. the release  of  the Guarantor  is  the prerogative of ABB pursuant to the terms of the Guarantee Agreement;
3. ABB  has the  right to file a civil suit for recovery without first having to realize the NDSB Shares; and
4. ABB had corresponded with the opponent of the Plaintiff to seek status update on the action taken against the Plaintiff in Singapore. 

The above Claim against ABB by the Plaintiff is as a result of the Debt Recovery Action against the Plaintiff which was commenced in the ordinary course of business.

The Board of Directors of ABB are of the view that save for the orders, cost and other relief sought by the Plaintiffs, which will materialize only if the Court rules in the Plaintiff’s favour, the Writ is not expected to result in any immediate losses, material, financial and operational impact on ABB for the current financial year ending 31 December 2016.                         

The Plaintiff has filed an Application for Discovery of Documents on 16 February 2016. The Discovery Application and the Writ have both been fixed for CM on 24 May 2016.

Further announcements will be made on material developments on this matter from time to time.

This announcement is dated 21 April 2016.

Announcement Info