Wednesday, May 4, 2011

Eskay Shazryl fails to get his RM20 million




Datuk Shazryl Eskay Abdullah walked away empty-handed today after the High Court here dismissed his RM20 million suit against Merong Mahawangsa Sdn Bhd and its executive director Datuk Yahya A. Jalil.

While Justice Datuk V.T. Singham agreed that Shazryl should have been paid RM20 million for helping procure rights to the “crooked bridge” project as agreed upon in a letter of undertaking between him and the defendants, the businessman was also bound by a clause therein which demands that the sum be refunded if the project is cancelled.

Singham said earlier that the defendants had failed to prove that the contract and the way it was secured was “injurious to public policy”, as stated in their written submission.

“This court is unable to regard the nature of the services rendered inimitable or opposed to public policy,” he said.







The judge said that while the contract was procured in an “irregular” manner, there was no evidence Shazryl (picture) had “peddled influence” or tried to corrupt government officials in the process.

Singham also said the court could only decide based on “sufficient facts” and would not resort to conjecture or allow personal prejudice to colour its decisions.

“This court will also not act as a policy-making body to please the perception of the public but only act as a judicial body whose function is to interpret and not legislate,” he said.

But Singham stressed that projects involving large contract sums must “no doubt” be awarded through open public tender and not through private arrangements or by using the influence of ministers and political leaders for personal gain.

“The object of building the bridge between Malaysia and Singapore must necessarily be for the good of the people and should not merely be to confer benefits on a certain class or group of people who have the knack of having connection with high-level politicians,” he said.

Yahya sat silently as the judge read out his judgment while Shazryl could not be present in court today due to “unforeseen circumstances”.

Shazryl filed the suit in January 2002 claiming breach of contract by Merong Mahawangsa and Yahya for failing to pay him RM20 million after he helped procured the rights to the Malaysia-Singapore International Gateway (SIG) bridge project.

Shazryl had earlier testified that in addition to approaching the late Tan Sri Megat Junid Megat Ayub for help, he had also helped Yahya gain access to then-Deputy Prime Minister Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim.

Yahya admitted having a casual meeting with Anwar at the former minister’s house with Shazryl in 1998 but could not recollect discussing the bridge.

However, Yahya denied he had sought help from Shazryl and told the High Court that the plaintiff had voluntarily offered his services instead.

Yahya also did not agree that Shazryl had helped him in through letters to Anwar, Megat Junid and the Economic Planning Unit (EPU) on the SIG project.

Yahya agreed that his company, Gerbang Perdana Sdn Bhd, was paid RM155 million by the government for the Gerbang Selatan Bersepadu (GSB) project in Bukit Chagar, Johor Baru — the new location of the Customs, Immigration and Quarantine (CIQ) complex — but was quick to stress that the GSB was different from SIG bridge project.

He also acknowledged to not paying the RM20 million agreed to Shazryl as the conditions were not met in the letter of undertaking.

According to the letter, the agreement is void if the project is withdrawn or no longer “sustainable”.

The “crooked bridge” project was terminated by the Abdullah administration in 2006.

Gerbang Perdana’s financial director Azhar Abdul Aziz later testified to explain that the SIG and GSB are two different projects — the former was a privatisation exercise while the latter a design-build turnkey contract.


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