KUALA LUMPUR (March 3): The High Court here on Thursday (March 3) ruled that no more creditors are allowed to intervene in four Serba Dinamik Holdings Bhd-related companies' interim judicial management court hearing because the matter regarding the appointment of a judicial manager or interim judicial manager would have to be decided quickly.
The four companies linked to engineering services provider Serba Dinamik Holdings are Serba Dinamik Group Bhd and the latter's (Serba Dinamik Group) three subsidiaries, namely SD Controls Sdn Bhd, Serba Dinamik Development Sdn Bhd and Serba Dinamik Sdn Bhd.
“However, this court would allow creditors if they want to intervene during the [main] judicial management proceedings,” High Court Judicial Commissioner Nadzarin Wok Nordin said during a virtual court hearing on Thursday.
“This court had already fixed March 24 for a judicial management hearing and it is not amenable to delay the hearing,” Nadzarin said.
In legal terminology, judicial management refers to the court-supervised rehabilitation initiative to help financially-troubled companies rejuvenate their financials.
The High Court on Thursday also fixed the afternoon on March 11 for the hearing of the appointment of an interim judicial manager for the four Serba Dinamik Holdings-related companies, which are said to have debts of between RM3 bilion and RM4 billion.
Nadzarin said he will decide on the appointment of the interim judicial manager for the four companies that day.
The High Court had initially fixed Thursday (March 3) for the joint hearing to appoint an interim judicial manager for the four companies.
Due to Orient Arotek Engineering & Trading Sdn Bhd's application to intervene in the interim judicial management court hearing, the hearing of the appointment of an interim judicial manager for the four companies had to be deferred to March 11, according to Nadzarin.
Orient Arotek was represented by lawyer Chan Kheng Hoe, while Mak Lin Kum represented the four Serba Dinamik Holdings-related companies.
Chan said Orient Arotek last Thursday (Feb 24) filed the application to intervene in the interim judicial management court hearing after finding out about the matter.
According to Chan, Serba Dinamik Development owes contractor Orient Arotek RM6 million.
Chan said he had received instructions from Orient Arotek to oppose the appointment of a judicial manager or interim judicial manager for the four Serba Dinamik Holdings-related companies.
Meanwhile, Mak said the four Serba Dinamik Holdings-related companies will have to respond to Orient Arotek's affidavit but they are not against Orient Arotek's intention to intervene in the interim judicial management court hearing.
Mak told the High Court that he noticed more creditors had applied to intervene in the matter and that the situation may further delay the hearing of the appointment of an interim judicial manager for the four Serba Dinamik Holdings-related companies.
Also present in the High Court hearing on Thursday were lawyers Datuk John Clark Sumugod and Benjamin Dawson who represented MBSB Bank Bhd and HSBC respectively.
Meanwhile, lawyer Datin Jeyanthini Kannaperan represented five other financial institutions, which had offered a syndicated loan to Serba Dinamik Holdings-related companies.
The five financial institutions are MIDF Amanah Investment Bank Bhd, AmBank Islamic Bhd, Bank Islam Malaysia Bhd, UOB and Standard Chartered Saadiq Bhd.
Sumugod, who spoke on behalf of MBSB against Serba Dinamik Group, said he had received instructions from MBSB to oppose the appointment of a judicial manager or an interim judicial manager for the four Serba Dinamik Holdings-related companies.
Dawson and Jeyanthini, however, suggested that the High Court deal with the issue of the interim judicial manager's appointment first.
Serba Dinamik Holdings has been in the news since the end of May 2021, when the company announced that its former auditor KPMG had informed the firm of some matters pertaining to its statutory audit.
On May 28, 2021, Serba Dinamik Holdings said in a response to Bursa Malaysia's query that the matters highlighted by KPMG on May 3, 2021 related to, among others, certain customers' confirmation relating to sales transactions and trade receivables.
The matters highlighted by KPMG included "trade receivables balances and sales transactions for information technology contracts", Serba Dinamik Holdings had said.