Ex-CEO Nik Faisal not in Malaysia, yet to be served with suit by SRC

SRC International has yet to be able to serve its lawsuit on its former CEO Nik Faisal Ariff Kamil who is not in Malaysia and is still being sought by the authorities over the 1MDB affair.

A lawyer close to the matter confirmed that the former 1MDB subsidiary was unable to serve the writ of summons on Nik Faisal, 50, who is one of seven defendants targeted by the company’s suit.

The legal practitioner, who declined to be named, said that SRC had been able to serve the cause papers on the other six defendants, namely former prime minister Najib Abdul Razak; its former directors Suboh Md Yassin, Mohammed Azhar Osman Khairuddin and Che Abdullah @ Rashidi Che Omar; its former chairperson Ismee Ismail and former 1MDB CEO Shahrol Azral Ibrahim Halmi.

“The writs were served on all defendants except the third defendant (Nik Faisal) as he is no longer in Malaysia,” the lawyer said.

Nik Faisal is a key figure mentioned several times by witnesses in the RM42 million SRC corruption trial of Najib.

This SRC suit is one among 22 launched by 1MDB as well as SRC against various personalities and entities who purportedly defrauded them whether knowingly or unknowingly.

The SRC civil suit against Najib, Nik Faisal and the five other defendants came up for online case management today before Kuala Lumpur High Court judge Ahmad Fairuz Zainol Abidin.

The lawyer added that following today’s case management, the matter has been fixed for further case management on Aug 3 to update the court on the progress of SRC’s attempt at substituted service of the suit on Nik Faisal.

Under Order 62 Rule 5 of the Rules of Court 2012, substituted service is an indirect method available to serve cause papers on an individual who is allegedly evading service or if it is impractical to serve the papers on the person.

Law firm Rosli Dahlan Saravana Partnership represented SRC.

Previously, The Edge Markets reported that the 22 suits were filed last month by three law firms namely Rosli Dahlan Saravana Partnership, Skrine & Co and Lim Chee Wee Partnership.

The suits seek around US$23 billion (RM94.4 billion) from the defendants.

Among those named as defendants were Najib, former 1MDB chairperson Che Lodin Wok Kamaruddin and former 1MDB chief executive officers Shahrol Azral Ibrahim Halmi, Mohd Hazem Abdul Rahman and Arul Kanda Kandasamy.

Several family members of fugitive businessperson Low Taek Jho or Jho Low were also named including his father and his sister. His alleged associates Eric Tan Kim Loong and Tarek Obaid, who is PetroSaudi International Ltd founder, were also named.

Some of the entities named were Deutsche Bank (Malaysia) Ltd as well as Swiss-based private bankers Coutts & Co Ltd and JP Morgan (Switzerland) Ltd.

The business news portal's report, quoting a source familiar with the suits, said the criminal cases in the 1MDB scandal were proceeding too slowly and the civil suits would demonstrate Prime Minister Muhyiddin Yassin's seriousness on the issue.

On July 27 last year, Najib was sentenced to 12 years in prison and a RM210 million fine for abuse of power, criminal breach of trust and money laundering involving RM42 million from SRC.

He is appealing the conviction and the matter is now before the Court of Appeal. His 1MDB-related charges are still before the High Court.

Previously, Bernama reported that the Finance Ministry confirmed that 1MDB and SRC had filed a total of 22 civil suits to recover assets worth over RM96.6 billion, including about RM300 million against various local parties.

In a statement, the ministry said the writs filed on May 7 comprised six by 1MDB and 16 by SRC.

The writs filed by 1MDB were against nine entities including two foreign financial institutions and 25 individuals while those filed by SRC are against eight entities and 15 individuals for various wrongdoings.

The wrongdoings include breach of contractual, statutory, common law and fiduciary duties; breach of trust; fraud; conspiracy to defraud; fraudulent misrepresentation; fraudulent breach of duties and trust; abuse of power; breach of fiduciary duties in public office and dishonest assistance in misappropriation of funds.

"1MDB and SRC contend that these entities and/or individuals have been unjustly enriched by wrongfully receiving monies from 1MDB or SRC," the ministry said.

According to Bernama, Finance Minister Tengku Zafrul Abdul Aziz said the government would not rest until all those involved are made fully accountable for the wrongdoings to the country through their involvement in 1MDB and/or SRC.

"Following significant and successful settlements with Goldman Sachs, AmBank Group and Deloitte PLT, the government's recovery efforts are now focused on pursuing other wrongdoers who have caused losses to 1MDB and/or SRC during the execution of their duties as parties directly or indirectly involved in 1MDB and/or SRC's various operations and transactions," he said.

In relation to their 1MDB settlements, the government had received RM10.5 billion from Goldman Sachs in August 2020 with a further asset recovery guarantee of RM5.88 billion.

The government had also recently received RM336 million from Deloitte PLT and is later to receive RM2.83 billion from the AmBank Group.