Halim alleges Nor Mohamed defamed him in a book

by **Cals** Mon 25 Aug 2014, 04:56

Published: Saturday August 23, 2014 MYT 12:00:00 AM
Updated: Saturday August 23, 2014 MYT 7:12:14 AM
[size=40]Halim alleges Nor Mohamed defamed him in a book[/size]
BY ISABELLE LAI

FORMER Renong Bhd executive chairman Tan Sri Halim Saad has issued a legal notice to Tan Sri Nor Mohamed Yakcop, alleging the latter had libelled him in the 2011 book Notes to the Prime Minister.
In his notice dated Aug 14, 2014, Halim referred to several passages in the book which he claimed were defamatory by giving the impression he had been an irresponsible and reckless businessman as well as mismanaged the finances of the Renong and UEM Group.
These passages include excerpts from page 382, which described “... Renong/United Engineers Malaysia (UEM) seeming inability to resolve its corporate borrowings…” and “... Bailing out increasingly unpopular corporate figures...”.
Halim, represented by law firm Sreenevasan Young, is seeking from Nor Mohamed a public apology in terms to be agreed by Halim, as well as a proposal on damages for the effect on his reputation.

The notice stated that Nor Mohamed, who had also served as former Finance Minister II, had seven days to respond, failing which the firm would issue process. It is learnt that Nor Mohamed has received the notice.
Notes to the Prime Minister, by former group chief editor of The Star, Datuk Wong Sulong, records previously unpublished discussions between then Prime Minister Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad and his then unofficial economic adviser Nor Mohamed.
Nor Mohamed was Dr Mahathir’s point person in advising the former Prime Minister on how to overcome the currency crisis in 1997 and 1998 that saw the ringgit and other Asian currencies being attacked by traders. Malaysia finally imposed capital controls in September 1998 to stop the attack against the ringgit.
During the crisis, Renong came under heavy selling pressure due to its estimated total group debt of over RM20bil.
In October 1997, Renong’s subsidiary UEM had announced it bought a 32.6% stake in Renong, a transaction that did not go down well with investors.
To appease the market, Halim gave an undertaking in 1998 to buy back the stake by February 2001 by way of a put option, costing him RM3.2bil.
However, Halim claimed he had never been allowed to fulfil his obligation to buy back the 32.6% block, adding that he was told in 2001 to hand over his interests in Renong to Khazanah so that a takeover could be done.
Nor Mohamed was one of the key figures instrumental in the Government’s takeover of UEM.
Halim’s close associate, Datuk Syed Amin Al-Jeffri, a former UEM director, had previously claimed in a statutory declaration dated July 18, 2013, that this “cross-holding” between UEM and Renong was a request from former Finance Minister Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim.
Renong was the parent company of the UEM Group, which was delisted in 2001. The jewel of UEM is PLUS Expressways Bhd, the highway concessionaire that amongt others owned and operated the North-South Expressway. PLUS was listed in 2002 in a move to reduce the debt of the group.
This is not Halim’s first suit with regard to the Renong/UEM group issue, with the High Court striking out his suit last November to reclaim over RM1.8bil in compensation for selling his stake in the company.
He had sued Nor Mohamed, the Government and Khazanah Nasional Bhd, claiming that he had been fraudulently induced to sell the Renong/UEM group shares to Khazanah.
Halim had claimed to receive only RM165mil instead of RM1.3bil as part of the settlement for his stake.
In striking out the suit, High Court judge Justice Hanipah Farikullah had ruled there was no legal basis for it as contemporaneous documents showed there was no element of fraud.
She also found that Halim’s suit had breached the six-year statute under the Limitations Act of 1953.