KUALA LUMPUR (July 22) : Newly minted PKR deputy president Rafizi Ramli claimed that he was justified in raising the issue of former Sapura Energy Bhd CEO Tan Sri Shahril Samsuddin’s remuneration due to the losses suffered by the company since 2012/2013.

In his statement of defence in a suit filed against him by Shahril, Rafizi said he raised the issue as Shahril's remuneration when he served as the CEO did not commensurate with Sapura's financial performance.

“Sapura had courted a barrage of criticism pertaining to remuneration payments made to Shahril at that time,” he added in the statement filed by Messrs AI Nathan on Friday (July 22).

Rafizi said institutional investors such as the Employees Provident Fund (EPF) and the Minority Shareholders Watchdog Group (MSWG) had deemed Shahril's remuneration package as “excessive, obscene and irresponsible” and this was raised in the company’s 2018 annual general meeting.

The matter was also widely reported by the media, the PKR deputy president said.

He said EPF subsequently reduced its shareholding and ceased to be a substantial holder of Sapura.

MSWG, meanwhile, raised the issue of Shahril's remuneration package being excessive which had been brought up at a previous Sapura AGM.

“The MSWG had further condemned Sapura's corporate governance mechanism at the 2018 AGM and the payment of the intellectual property rights, trademark and branding fee to Sapura Holdings Sdn Bhd in which Shahril holds a direct shareholding,” Rafizi added in his defence statement.

Shahril, who is presently the president and Group CEO of Sapura Group, had filed the suit via Messrs Zul Rafique & Partners following Rafizi's statement questioning the remuneration and the move to inject more public funds to bail out the company.

Sapura Energy and several of its subsidiaries are currently faced with winding-up petitions filed in court.

Rafizi said he was merely making comments on Datuk Seri Najib Razak's various postings to bail Sapura out, as the former Prime Minister had commented on the matter via his Facebook postings.

The former PKR lawmaker was of the view that public funds should not be used to bail the company out.

He said that between 2009 and 2021, Sapura had paid Shahril approximately RM1.1 billion in total remuneration, of which RM980 million to RM990 million was paid during Najib's tenure as the Prime Minister from 2009 to 2018.

“The aforesaid payments which were made during Najib's tenure as Prime Minister and Finance Minister are unfair and disproportionate to the other shareholders, namely the nation's other public institutional funds like Retirement Fund Inc (KWAP) and Permodalan Nasional Bhd.

“Najib in his official capacity was entrusted in ensuring that such public institutional funds obtain the best value from their investments,” he added.

Rafizi claimed he was making fair comments in all three articles over which he was being sued for, as it was a matter of public interest, and to prevent abuse of public funds.

He also cited the defence of qualified privilege in raising the matter which is of public interest.

Rafizi's lawyer Navpreet Singh told theedgemarkets.com that Sessions Court judge Lailatul Zuraida Harron @ Haron has directed Shahril's lawyers to file a reply by Aug 26.

Lailatul Zuraida has also fixed Aug 26 for case management.