KUALA LUMPUR: Tanjung Offshore Bhd has filed a defamation suit against its suspended director Tan Sri Tan Kean Soon and six others seeking damages of RM100 million for remarks Kean Soon made in articles published in the media on Feb 9.

Apart from Kean Soon, the other defendants are Datuk Dr Nik Norzrul Thani N Hassan Thani, Datin Norhafizah Mohd Nordin, Datuk Rosman Hassan, Datuk Norazman Hamidun, Datuk Maheran Mohd Salleh and Tan Sam Eng.

In a statement yesterday, Tanjung Offshore said the suit was filed on Feb 24 and served on the seven defendants’ respective solicitors on March 12 by the company and its three independent non-executive directors, namely George William Warren Jr, Datuk Ab Wahab Ibrahim and Shahrizal Hisham Abdul Halim.

The trio are also members of an independent committee formed by the company’s board of directors in January this year to conduct an internal review following articles published in the media in 2014.

The committee’s findings had resulted in the suspension of Kean Soon, former managing director and current group adviser Datuk Harzani Azmi and director Muhammad Sabri Ab Ghani from their executive roles.

“On Feb 9, articles were published in The Star, Berita Harian, the New Straits Times and The Edge, among others, with Kean Soon making disparaging remarks [about] Tanjung Offshore and the committee’s findings,” said Tanjung Offshore in a statement yesterday.

On Feb 12, Kean Soon together with Nik Norzrul and Norhafizah had then served notice of their intention to call an extraordinary general meeting on March 27, to remove Warren, Wahab and Sharizal from the board.

They had also proposed to appoint five of the defendants, namely Nik Norzrul, Rosman, Norazman, Maheran and Sam Eng as directors of the company.

Apart from monetary award, Tanjung Offshore is also seeking an apology from the seven defendants to be published in the newspapers concerned and online media.

“The suit is not expected to have any financial or operational impact on the company or its group of companies, and there is no expected loss arising therefrom,” it said.

Tanjung Offshore shares fell one sen or 1.9% to close at 51.5 sen yesterday, giving it a market capitalisation of RM196.96 million.

This article first appeared in The Edge Financial Daily, on March 13, 2015.