KUALA LUMPUR (Dec 14): PetroSaudi International Ltd (PSI) subsidiary PetroSaudi Oil Services (Venezuela) Ltd (incorporated in Barbados) (PSOSL) said it is in what could be the final round of negotiations with the Malaysian government in relation to the latter's bid to forfeit US$340 million of 1Malaysia Development Bhd (1MDB) funds from the company.
Following this, PSOSL counsel Alex Tan told the High Court that they need some more time for discussions.
This led to Justice Mohd Nazlan Mohd Ghazali to ask whether there had been significant development to the matter, to which Tan replied that there was correspondence with the Attorney-General's Chambers last week.
“Hence, we need more time and I apply to this court to fix a mention date within two months, maybe early February,” he said.
Deputy Public Prosecutor Budiman Lutfi Mohamed concurred there had been several meetings between them and told the court that they had no objections to a short adjournment.
This led to Justice Nazlan giving an ultimatum, saying that he would fix a hearing date on Feb 4, 2021, should parties not be able to settle the matter.
“The court will fix a hearing date on that day, if there is no resolution to the matter,” the judge said.
The court was supposed to hear the forfeiture application on Nov 10, but could not do so following the Conditional Movement Control Order (CMCO) due to Covid 19.
On Oct 1, it was reported that Tan along with Saudi national Tarek Obaid's counsel Datuk Yusof Zainal Abiden indicated there had been some significant developments on the matter and had asked for the scheduled Oct 5 hearing to be vacated.
Budiman told reporters on the sidelines that PSOSL representatives had met solicitor-general Datuk Abdul Razak Musa once during the period to discuss the forfeiture.
Malaysian prosecutors had named Tarek, who is PSI founder, PSI, PSOSL along with Clyde & Co based in the UK and Temple Fiduciary Services Ltd, which held the funds in an escrow account, as defendants in the action.
Forfeiture follows criminal charges on Tarek, Mahony and Jho Low
The forfeiture action comes after Malaysia levelled charges in February this year on Tarek, PSI director Patrick Mahony along with fugitive Malaysian businessman Low Taek Jho — better known as Jho Low — for engaging in a criminal conspiracy involving former prime minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak and 1MDB.
According to the charge sheet, the criminal conspiracy involved the commission of an offence by Najib using his position as prime minister, finance minister and 1MDB advisory board chairman to seek gratification for himself involving a monetary sum of RM60.63 million.
Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC) investigating officer Mohd Afiq Abdul Aziz, in his affidavit in support of the forfeiture application, claimed that the disputed funds were from 1MDB-PetroSaudi Ltd in 2010, when 1MDB pumped in US$300 million to that company, of which US$185 million went to PSOSL.
Afiq said 1MDB was supposed to receive ownership of PSOSL, as claimed by former 1MDB chief executive officer Datuk Shahrol Azral Ibrahim Halmi, but Tarek and former 1MDB executive director of finance Terence Geh allegedly acted on behalf of 1MDB International Holdings and 1MDB to execute a deed of termination dated April 8, 2014 to relinquish PSOSL's rights to Tarek.
Malaysian prosecutors claimed that Geh had acted fraudulently and hence, whatever PSOSL received should be given to 1MDB and the country.
Besides this, it was reported on Sept 17 that the US Department of Justice (DOJ) had also filed an application to seek US$300 million in additional assets allegedly associated with the multibillion-dollar 1MDB scandal, assets it had traced to the escrow account in the UK.
This led to MACC lawyers, led by Muhammad Nizamuddin Abdul Hamid — whose firm Messrs Zharif Nizamuddin was appointed by the anti-graft agency last year to help oversee this action — to say that they are formulating advice and will seek directions as to the Malaysian government's stand on the matter.
Besides the forfeiture action on Tarek by Malaysia and the US, it is understood that the United Kingdom and Switzerland have also filed claims on the Saudi national.