KUALA LUMPUR – Claiming severe financial losses, a dissolved company, with permission from the Insolvency Department, is suing the federal government for terminating contracts pertaining to the now defunct National Service (NS) programme.
The company, Sri Ledang Ventures Sdn Bhd (SLV), entered into a contract with the Defence Ministry (Mindef) in September 2005 to provide services and supply food for the NS programme at Kem PLKN Sri Ledang.
The initial contract period was for four years and was valued at RM14.523 million, stated court documents sighted by The Vibes.
From 2009 onwards, Putrajaya proceeded to extend SLV’s contract until the end of 2013 for RM4.678 million a year.
According to the statement of claim filed at the Kuala Lumpur High Court on March 15, SLV claims that the government made another offer to the company to extend their contract from 2014 to 2016.
Further, the new contract stipulated that SLV will be required to comply with new guidelines, including making necessary upgrades to the Kem PLKN Sri Ledang.
“The contract stipulates that the plaintiff must comply with the guidelines within 18 months and failure to do so will result in termination.
“The construction costs amounted to RM3.061 million.
“The plaintiff obtained a loan amounting to RM3 million from SME Bank in September 2014,” the statement of claim said.
However, SLV was informed by Putrajaya in 2015 of plans to temporarily suspend the NS programme.
Nevertheless, despite halting the programme, the government proceeded to award SLV another contract from March to December 2015, valued at RM700,000.
The programme was suspended for a year and reintroduced in 2016. In January that year, the government again awarded SLV contract extensions from that year for another four years.
According to the statement of claim, SLV was to rent out the camp for a rate of RM167,508 a month, provide other services for RM2.010 million a year, and supply food for 450 individuals at RM22.55 per person.
Then in 2018, after Pakatan Harapan took over Putrajaya, the government announced that it would put an end to the NS programme.
Through a letter dated September 3, 2018, the government informed SLV of the contract termination. The statement of claim reveals that SLV along with other camp operators made attempts to appeal to the government to withdraw the contract termination.
In fact, SLV claimed on March 18, 2019, several camp operators met with then prime minister Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad and Syed Saddiq Syed Abdul Rahman, the youth and sports minister at the time, to discuss the contract termination.
“The prime minister agreed during the meeting to restart the NS programme at a smaller scale as a temporary solution,” the statement of claim said.
Currently, SLV through its civil suit is claiming the following from the government:
- RM3.061 million as damages for Kem PLKN Sri Ledang’s upgrade costs;
- RM5.2 million remaining payments for rental services from October 2018 to December 2020;
- RM2.244 million remaining payments for rental services from 2014 to 2015;
- RM702,282 for failure to pay additional services from 2017 to 2018;
- RM1.161 million for failure to make full payments for the provision of food to NS trainees from 2014 to 2018; and
- RM2.435 for failure to make full payments for the provision of food to NS trainees from 2018 to 2020.
The total amount claimed by SLV against the government is RM14.801 million.
SLV was wound up by the Inland Revenue Board in March 2021 and received permission from the Insolvency Department to file the suit.
Checks with the Companies Commission of Malaysia, which lists SLV as a wound-up company, state that one Asmah Yahaya and Mohamad Izlan Ishak are both shareholders and directors for SLV. – The Vibes, April 15, 2023
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