Ex-Sime Darby CEO, 4 others to pay group RM350mil for losses
KUALA LUMPUR : Sime Darby Bhd's former group chief executive Zubair @ Zubir Murshid and four other former senior executives have been ordered to repay the conglomerate approximately RM350 million as restitution for wrongful payments to consultants in relation to three projects in Qatar.
Justice Atan Mustaffa Yussof Ahmad issued the order following an assessment of damages, after the five defendants admitted their liability in the High Court here 11 years ago, according to The Edge.
Atan said that admission covered the underlying facts giving rise to the claims, the defendants' breaches of duties, and the various other wrongful acts listed in the pleadings.
'The admission of liability for 'wrongful payments' to consultants carries profound legal consequences.
'Where a defendant admits that payments were 'wrongfully' made, this constitutes an admission that such payments should not have been made and were causally connected to the defendant's breach of duty,' the judge said when delivering his broad grounds of judgment.
The other defendants liable under the judgment include:
Shukri Baharom, a former executive vice-president of the group's energy and utilities (E&U) division;
Rahim Ismail, a former chief financial officer of the division;
Kadir Alias, a former head of the E&U's oil and gas business unit; and
Zaki Othman, former senior general manager of Sime Darby Engineering Sdn Bhd.
The five men are jointly and severally liable to pay the group 67.811 million Qatari Riyal (RM79.235 million), US$2.049 million (RM8.714 million), and RM1.725 million.
These sums represent losses incurred by the group arising from three projects under the group's E&U division which experienced massive cost overruns.
The suit was brought in 2010 by Sime Darby and four of its subsidiaries – Sime Darby Engineering Sdn Bhd, Sime Darby Energy Sdn Bhd, Sime Darby Marine Sdn Bhd, and Sime Darby Marine (Hong Kong) Pte Ltd.
The claims concerned losses suffered by the group's Qatar Petroleum (QP) project, its Maersk Oil Qatar project (MOQ) and Project Marine, involving the construction of marine vessels.
Atan said the assessment of damages took place after an interlocutory consent judgment was entered on June 13, 2014.
The judge said that during the assessment proceedings, defence counsel had attempted to venture into the area of liability, but were precluded from doing so by the interlocutory consent judgment previously entered.
He also dismissed various other legal issues raised by the defendants during the proceedings.
Counsels Alexius Lee and Rhosvin Singh appeared for Sime Darby and its subsidiaries, while Shaarvin Raj and Craig Ho appeared for Zubir.
Lawyer Ranjinny Andy appeared for Shukri, Jasmin Raj represented Rahim, and Harvinder Singh Sidhu appeared for Kadir and Zaki.
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