This article first appeared in The Edge Financial Daily on November 8, 2018

KUALA LUMPUR: Former Selangor menteri besar Datuk Seri Mohamed Azmin Ali has withdrawn a counter-claim against Puncak Niaga Holdings Bhd in the Court of Appeal which relates to its RM14 billion lawsuit against him and his predecessor Tan Sri Khalid Ibrahim.

“Puncak Niaga wishes to announce to the exchange that the hearing of Datuk Seri Azmin’s appeal to the Court of Appeal against the High Court’s decision in dismissing his counter-claim against Puncak Niaga that was scheduled on Nov 5, 2018 was vacated as Datuk Seri Azmin had withdrawn the said appeal,” it said in a filing to Bursa Malaysia yesterday.

This comes after almost a year-long lawsuit which started last November when Puncak Niaga filed a RM14 billion lawsuit against Mohamed Azmin, who was then Selangor menteri besar, as well as Khalid, claiming they had abused their power in public office by threatening to cause, or attempting to cause, the federal government to invoke the use of the Water Services Industry Act 2006 to force a takeover of the state’s water industry.

Puncak Niaga closed unchanged yesterday at 49.5 sen, for a market capitalisation of RM221.39 million.