Thursday 28 Mar 2024
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This article first appeared in The Edge Financial Daily on June 21, 2018

KUALA LUMPUR: Synergy Promenade Sdn Bhd, the master builder for the Kuala Lumpur Vertical City (KLVC) project, has filed a second defamation suit, this time against New Straits Times Press (Malaysia) Bhd (NSTP) for a total claim of RM250 million, at the Kuala Lumpur High Court.

The developer claims that the New Straits Times (NST) and Berita Harian (BH), published by NSTP, were not conforming to fair, ethical and accurate journalism when they made allegations that Synergy Promenade wrongfully transferred assets belonging to the Federal Land Development Authority (Felda), resulting in potential losses, it said in a statement yesterday.

According to Synergy Promenade’s lawyer Mohamed Reza Rahim, the company will file a series of lawsuits in a continuous effort to restore its reputation due to bad press early this year over land transfers in Jalan Semarak.

“About two to three suits are in the pipeline. We will be filing the suits against politicians and those aligned with Felda in a month or so,” he told The Edge Financial Daily via telephone.

On June 4, the company filed a RM100 million defamation suit against former Felda chairman Tan Sri Shahrir Abdul Samad for allegedly tarnishing Synergy Promenade’s image.

Shahrir is alleged to have done this through his statements made in his capacity as Felda chief between Dec 21, 2017, and March this year.

Shah Alam-based Synergy Promenade was involved in the transfer of 16 parcels of land in Jalan Semarak, measuring 6.5ha and worth RM270 million, to itself and its company Synergy Promenade KLVC Sdn Bhd through four agreements on Dec 2, 2015, and Nov 7, 2016.

On June 2, 2014, Felda’s investment arm, Felda Investment Corp Sdn Bhd (FIC), signed a master developer agreement with the company to develop the KLVC, featuring seven towers including Felda’s KLVC Tower 1A, on 24 pieces of land.

It is believed that the project, said to have a gross development value of RM6 billion, is the largest handled by Synergy Promenade.

The land parcels and their titles were transferred back to Felda in January this year at no cost amid a forensic audit on FIC by an external firm.

Mohamed Reza said the amounts stated in the suits are subject to the court’s decision, and are based on aggravated claims. This means they take into account the potential losses from contracts that were already at the approval stage.

“Synergy Promenade was shortlisted for several projects and they were at the approval stage when this incident happened, and these contracts were lost due to bad press and Shahrir’s alleged comments,” he added.

Besides seeking an injunction for NSTP not to repeat and/or republish their defamatory statements, and damages from the group and the writer Che Wan Badrul Alias, the company also wants an apology.

 

 

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