SRC’s bid to amend RM16m suit against Umno to be heard on Nov 10

KUALA LUMPUR (Oct 11): The High Court will hear SRC International Sdn Bhd’s application to amend the writ in its RM16 million suit against Umno on Nov 10, the same day it will hear the party’s application to strike out the suit.

The date was fixed by Judicial Commissioner Quay Chew Soon during case management on Monday.

This was confirmed by SRC’s lawyer Clarence Hng Ying Hui of Rosli Dahlan Saravana Partnership.

SRC, Gandingan Mentari Sdn Bhd, and Jendela Pinggiran Sdn Bhd are suing Umno for the RM16 million sum that was allegedly wrongfully transferred to the party.

In its writ of summons, the plaintiffs claimed that Umno knew or ought to have known that the money belonged to SRC and that it had no basis to receive the funds.

SRC and its two wholly-owned subsidiaries, Gandingan Mentari and Jendela Pinggiran, filed their suit against Umno in May to recover an alleged misappropriated sum of RM16 million from the party.

They claimed that the RM16 million was part of RM123 million given out by the two subsidiaries to Ihsan Perdana Sdn Bhd for corporate social responsibility purposes.

The RM123 million, in turn, was part of the remaining RM400 million from a RM4 billion loan from Retirement Fund Inc (KWAP).

SRC claimed that the RM16 million were transferred to Umno in three tranches of payment (RM10 million, RM3 million and another RM3 million) on April 8, 2015, without the knowledge of the SRC board of directors.

Umno, through the legal firm of Shahrul Hamidi and Haziq, had on Aug 24 filed an application to strike out the suit.

Umno’s organising secretary Datuk Mohd Sumali Reduan affirmed an affidavit claiming that there is no reasonable cause of action as SRC had wrongly named its office bearers in the suit. He claimed that he should have been the official named, being the public officer in the party.

Following this, Hng had on Oct 7 filed an application to amend the writ to name Sumali as the public officer in Umno.

The suit is one of 16 suits filed by SRC, a former subsidiary of 1Malaysia Development Bhd, and its subsidiaries. The 16 suits, and another six by 1MDB, are aimed at recovering assets totalling RM96.6 billion from various parties.

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11 October 2021