KUALA LUMPUR – A RM400 million loan granted by Bank Pembangunan Malaysia Bhd (BPMB) to Aries Telecoms (M) Bhd over a decade ago saw the former initiating a lawsuit against 27 defendants including the bank’s former president and group managing director Datuk Mohd Zafer Hashim.
According to The Edge, citing a court filing made by the bank’s legal representatives today, the RM400 million loan, which was approved in May 2012, was to partly finance a RM1.3 billion project undertaken by Aries to install a fibre optic network around Peninsular Malaysia.
The bank is seeking a total of RM564.99 million in losses and damages as a result of actions by the defendants.
Additionally, the bank is also making a further claim of exemplary damages against the defendants, given what BPMB claimed were calculated acts on the part of the defendants to make a profit for themselves, which BPMB said “might well exceed any compensation payable”.
In its filing, the bank also filed an ex-parte Mareva injunction – an asset freezing order – against all but a few of the defendants.
The excluded defendants were foreign companies, including a few incorporated in the British Virgin Islands.
The injunction application will be heard on July 1 (Friday) before high court judicial commissioner Ong Chee Kwan.
The court filing further stated that BPMB accuses the defendants of conspiring and using unlawful means to defraud the bank, and of concealing such fraud and its proceeds from BPMB.
According to the bank, the loan was disbursed to Aries without fulfilling necessary conditions.
Additionally, the disbursed money, BPMB alleged, was misused instead of being employed for the fibre optic project.
The funds, BPMB claimed, were apparently “syphoned and/or unjustifiably transferred” to other companies such as Paneagle Holdings Bhd, BVS Trinity Sdn Bhd, VCB Malaysia Bhd, Orient Telecoms Sdn Bhd, and/or Primawin Ltd which were named as defendants in the suit.
The business daily also reported that, among other factors, the loan approval was granted based on the appointment of Huawei Technologies Co Ltd, China (Huawei China) as turnkey contractor to construct, operate and maintain the network for the project.
BPMB, however, did not have the full knowledge and neither consented nor approved when Huawei China was subsequently replaced by Paneagle Holdings.
Despite Huawei’s removal, the RM400 million loan was still disbursed via two tranches of RM200 million each to Aries (then known as V Telecoms Bhd), according to the court filing.
This occurred as BPMB claimed that Zafer allegedly approved two separate waivers of certain conditions for the loan’s granting.
The waivers were made a few days before the first and second disbursements in July 2012 and November 2013, respectively.
In the court filing, BPMB said it found that Aries’ former group MD and director Datuk Ranjeet Singh Sidhu (13th defendant) had, on behalf of Aries, made an RM8 million payment to Zafer through intermediary Datuk Noorusa’adah Othman (Adah) (14th defendant) on July 4, 2012 for the successful disbursement of the RM400 million loan to the company.
Adah was the former senior corporate finance personnel to Tan Sri Syed Yusof Syed Nasir, who was formerly the chairman and director of Aries, according to the court.
Roughly two years later, in July 2014, Aries requested for more time to repay the loan to allow the company to get listed on the London Stock Exchange Alternative Investment Market.
The request was granted by BPMB in exchange for a full repayment should the listing be successful.
Aries, however, failed in its listing bid.
In July 2018, BPMB issued a notice of default over the loan to Aries, demanding the full repayment of RM451.27 million.
A year later, in May 2019, a summary judgement was entered against Aries for the sum demanded, although the company appealed and obtained a stay of execution from the Court of Appeal, subject to BPMB’s right to appoint a receiver and manager under the relevant debenture.
The court filing also showed BPMB as claiming that Shailen Popatlal (second defendant) was involved in the alleged misconduct and wrongdoing in relation to the loan granted, among others.
The bank claimed that Shailen was Aries’ shadow director and was in control of and/or has owned and/or substantially owned Primawin Ltd (19th defendant), China Finance Ltd (20th defendant) and Arab Emirates Capital Ltd (now known as Hadron Equities Ltd, the 21st defendant), all of which were incorporated in BVI.
Besides those named above, other defendants in the suit include Aries director Wan Alias Wan Ngah and former director Roslina Ibrahim; Paneagle Sdn Bhd and its director Abdul Wahid Abdul Ghani; Open Fibre Sdn Bhd and its director Mohd Radzi Mohamed; and Orient Telecoms Sdn Bhd and its directors Mustafa Ali Zaminali Sayed, Muhammad Shazhakim Shazarul Hisham, and Shaza Arina Shazarul Hisham — the latter two being son and daughter of Roslina respectively.
Also named as defendants were Silver Ridge Sdn Bhd and its director Wong Chee Keong; BVS Trinity and its director Abd Hadi Abd Majid; and Zavarco Plc and its director Tunku Mazlina Tunku Abd Aziz. – The Vibes, June 29, 2022
