Thursday 28 Mar 2024
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KUALA LUMPUR (Jan 18): The Kuala Lumpur High Court has set Jan 21 to decide on the judicial management application by Jepak Holdings Sdn Bhd, the Sarawak-based firm named in Datin Seri Rosmah Mansor's solar project graft trial.

After hearing the merits of Jepak’s application, Judicial Commissioner Nadzarin Wok Nordin reserved his judgment till Jan 21.

The decision was confirmed to theedgemarkets.com by Jepak's lawyer Shim De Zhen today. 

Judicial management is a method of debt restructuring whereby a qualified insolvency practitioner is appointed as an independent judicial manager to rehabilitate a financially troubled company.

On Aug 13, some creditors to Jepak had raised a jurisdictional issue, arguing that since the company is based in Bintulu, the application should be heard in the High Court of Sabah and Sarawak.

Jepak had filed the application so that the company could be placed under judicial management with Datuk Mohd Afrizan Husain as the judicial manager for six months.

Once a court order for judicial management is granted, a moratorium will be put in place to prevent legal action from being initiated against the company. The company would also not be wound up.

theedgemarkets.com had reported that QEOS Energy Sdn Bhd, led by its founder and group CEO Dr Gabriel Walter, is Jepak's white knight and has taken over the company's reins.

Jepak landed in trouble when the Ministry of Education, which awarded the company the solar power hybrid project in June 2017, set up a task force in October 2018 to investigate allegations that it forged the signatures and seals of school principals to make fraudulent claims from the ministry.

As a result, the ministry stopped paying Jepak and this led the company to be unable to continue the project, Jepak said in papers filed in court that were sighted by theedgemarkets.com.

“The ministry issued a termination notice dated Oct 2, 2019 but in the meantime throughout the year, it found a white knight to continue with the project,” the court documents stated.

At the same time, Jepak had commenced legal proceedings to claim RM7.8 billion against the ministry and the Malaysian government for purportedly terminating the contract unlawfully, resulting in its debts.

Rosmah, the wife of former premier Datuk Seri Najib Razak, has been charged with allegedly receiving RM5 million and RM1.5 million from Jepak managing director Saidi Abang Samsudin in 2016 and 2017 in exchange for helping the company get the RM1.25 billion solar hybrid project.

Edited BySurin Murugiah
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