This article first appeared in The Edge Financial Daily on June 5, 2018

KUALA LUMPUR: Master developer for the Kuala Lumpur Vertical City (KLVC) project Synergy Promenade Sdn Bhd has filed a RM100 million defamation suit in the Kuala Lumpur High Court here yesterday against former Federal Land Development Authority (Felda) chairman Tan Sri Shahrir Abdul Samad for tarnishing its image through his statements.

Shahrir, 69, was appointed to Felda from Jan 6, 2017 after his predecessor Tan Sri Isa Samad left following the non-renewal of his contract. Shahrir resigned on May 14 this year when he failed to retain his Johor Baru parliamentary seat in the recent general election.

“The company is basically safeguarding itself against what Shahrir said in his capacity as Felda chairman between Dec 21, 2017 and March this year. That was the height of the land matter at that time,” Synergy Promenade’s lawyer Mohamed Reza Rahim told reporters yesterday.

“This is a defamation and malicious falsehood case against Shahrir because there was certain misrepresentation of facts he made in public in the recovery of the land that tarnished the company’s reputation in the business world,” he added.

The construction and development company is also seeking an injunction against Shahrir from repeating defamatory statements and a written apology published in five national publications.

Mohamed Reza said the quantum of the loss of business, where it lost out on contracts over the period of time, would be highlighted in court during the trial.

“This project (KLVC) is not the only project Synergy Promenade was working on. There were other similar projects that the company was simultaneously placing bids on but when this story broke, it jeopardised all the other opportunities. We will definitely prove this in court,” he added.

Synergy Promenade business development director Datuk Marina Hashim, who handled the KLVC project, was also present in court yesterday.

Shah Alam-based Synergy Promenade was involved in the transfer of 16 parcels of land in Jalan Semarak, measuring 16.06 acres (6.5ha) and worth RM270 million, to itself and its company Synergy Promenade KLVC Sdn Bhd through four agreements on Dec 2, 2015 and Nov 7, 2016.

Former deputy minister in the prime minister’s department Datuk Razali Ibrahim confirmed in March this year that Isa enabled the land transfers after signing the power of attorney on June 3, 2014 that gave Synergy Promenade the right to convert the land titles to its name.

The company came into the fray on June 2, 2014 when Felda’s investment arm, Felda Investment Corp Sdn Bhd (FIC), signed a master developer agreement with it to develop the KLVC, featuring seven towers including Felda’s KLVC Tower 1A, on 24 pieces of land.

It is believed that the project, which is said to have a gross development value of RM6 billion, is the largest handled by Synergy Promenade.

Meanwhile, the land parcels and its titles were transferred back to Felda in January this year at no cost amid a forensic audit of scandal-ridden FIC by an external firm.

It was previously reported the KLVC project would continue as development approvals had already been obtained, but Felda would negotiate with Synergy Promenade for better terms for the project.