Report: Company sues Parliament’s chief administrator over aborted club project

IPOH, April 23 — Stereofonik Teknologi Sdn Bhd has filed a suit against the Parliament chief administrator and the federal director-general of the Lands and Mines Department over a proposed recreational club.

The suit, which was filed in the Kuala Lumpur High Court by Stereofonik on March 17, is seeking the reinstatement of an agreement to develop and run the proposed Kelab Parlimen Malaysia, a recreational club for MPs, senators, Parliament staff, and members of the corporate sector, online news portal The Vibes reported.

In the statement of claim, Stereofonik said it was appointed to undertake the club project after making several presentations to then Dewan Rakyat speaker Tan Sri Mohamad Ariff Md Yusof, as well as his successor Tan Sri Azhar Azizan Harun, and then law minister Datuk Seri Takiyuddin Hassan, among others.

It also said that the company was given a letter of undertaking, which was signed by then Parliament’s chief administrator on September 24, 2020, to the company to officially spearhead the project.

Subsequently, in the same month, the Parliament’s administration (Pentadbiran Parlimen Malaysia) made Stereofonik an offer to rent two Public Works Department (PWD) quarters for the purposes of the club project.

“On November 11, 2020, in the presence of civil servants from Parliament led by Kamis, a visit was made to the project site.

“Architects who were present and Kamis agreed to support giving the plaintiff (Stereofonik) a 30-year grant along with a rental reduction.

“The new rental rate agreed upon was RM1,000 for each building,” Stereofonik said in the statement of claim.

The report also stated that Parliament’s Civil Service Housing Management Committee approved the addition of three more PWD quarters for the project to ensure the club would be a five-star facility in line with Parliament’s image.

The proposal to set up the club was first announced on Parliament’s official website in October 2019, the statement of claim said.

Stereofonik is a company with expertise in managing recreational clubs as well as social, golf, and sports clubs, including membership administration and operation of club facilities, according to credit reporting agency CTOS.

However, on November 24, 2020, Stereofonik said that it was asked to deal with Datuk Zamani Sulaiman after Kamis was admitted to the National Heart Institute.

The following month, Parliament’s administration issued a letter of support for the proposal to award Sterefonik with a 30-year long-term grant and a rental reduction to the federal lands and mines director-general.

Stereofonik claimed that the federal land office should have approved the grant and rental reduction to allow the project to proceed, but it failed to do so.

“Due to the failure to do so, the plaintiff has borne losses until today as we were not able to proceed with the project, and were forced to incur operating costs from December 2020 to February 2023,” the statement of claim said.

The company also said that on January 4, 2021, Datuk Nor Yahati Awang took over as Parliament’s chief administrator and Stereofonik invited her to visit the project site, which she did a week later.

However, despite a briefing later the same month by the company to speaker Azhar where Yahati was also present, Stereofonik claimed that she did not provide the necessary cooperation for the management of the project.

“Various quarters from Parliament’s administration began to interfere with the management of Kelab Parlimen Malaysia, which stunted the progress of the project,” the statement of claim said.

Sterefonik said that Yahati issued a termination notice for the agreement to rent the PWD quarters without regard to the previous letters of support by Kamis, as claimed by the company.

As a result, Stereofonik is seeking a declaration that the company has the right to undertake the Kelab Parlimen Malaysia project and an order to approve the 30-year long-term grant.

In addition to an unspecified amount of damages, Stereofonik is also seeking an injunction against Parliament’s chief administrator’s office preventing it from terminating the rental agreement.

Through checks with the Companies Commission, two individuals are listed as Sterefonik’s directors — Anuggerahan and Asmaaullahilhuna Aziz. The company also has only two shareholders, namely Anuggerahan, who holds the majority of shares, and one Datuk Mohd Rawi Abd Hamid.