KUALA LUMPUR (Sept 30): The RM16 million suit by SRC International Sdn Bhd and two others against Umno will now be heard by High Court judge Datuk Azimah Omar.
It is understood that the case will be transferred to Azimah after Judicial Commissioner Roz Mawar Rozain recused herself from presiding over the matter as she was a former prosecutor with the Securities Commission Malaysia.
The matter came up for case management on Thursday (Sept 29) with SRC International Sdn Bhd, Gandingan Mentari Sdn Bhd and Jendela Pinggiran Sdn Bhd being represented by Syafinaz Vani from Messrs Rosli Dahlan Saravana Partnership while Umno was represented by counsel Mohamed Baharudeen Mohamad Ariff from Messrs Shahrul Hamidi & Haziq.
During the case management before Roz Mawar, Syafinaz said they would not be objecting to Umno'a application to amend its defence and that SRC and the others would be given an opportunity to reply to the amendment if there was a need to do so.
SRC and others did not object to this in order to save the court cost and time.
It was during the brief session that Roz Mawar informed that she would not be presiding over the case and was transferring it to High Court Civil 5, where Azimah is presiding.
SRC, Gandingan Mentari and Jendela Pinggiran are suing Umno for RM16 million, which was alleged to have been wrongfully transferred to Umno by present Umno president Datuk Seri Dr Ahmad Zahid Hamidi's predecessor and former prime minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak.
The three companies claimed that Umno knew or ought to have known that the money belonged to SRC and that Umno had no basis to receive the funds.
In August 2021, Umno filed an application to strike out the suit as the plaintiffs were said to have filed the legal action outside the limitation period but this was dismissed by the court.
In March this year, Umno along with Zahid also applied to stay the hearing of the suit but this application was dismissed by Judicial Commissioner Datuk Mohd Arief Emran Arifin who presided over the matter before Roz Mawar.
The suit against Umno is one of the 16 legal actions filed by the company or its subsidiary.
Earlier this month, tycoon Tan Sri Lim Soon Peng and Putrade Property Management Sdn Bhd settled a suit filed by SRC International and the two companies against them.