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13 September 2023

Our Consultant, Shahul Hameed Amirudin and Legal Associates Sharanya Visualingam and Aida Liyana Zainal Rashid had on 04.09.2023, successfully represented Bank Kerjasama Rakyat Malaysia Berhad (“the Bank”) at the High Court in a matter involving amongst others breach of fiduciary duties, breach of contract, negligence, conspiracy and fraud.


In 2016, the 1st Defendant as the former Chairman of the Bank and the 2nd Defendant as the former Managing Director of the Bank had enabled / approved a sponsorship to publish and launch a book entitled “Antara 2 Zaman Najib Tun Razak – Mendepani Cabaran Dan Menggalas Sejuta Harapan” (“the Book Sponsorship”) in the sum of approximately RM14.9 million (“the Book Sponsorship Amount”). The Book Sponsorship was requested by the 5th Defendant i.e. the Director of the 3rd Defendant which was a mere 2-month old company at the material time with no established experience in book publishing. The 4th Defendant was appointed by the 3rd Defendant as a stakeholder-solicitor to receive the Book Sponsorship Amount on behalf of the 3rd Defendant. However, even though the payment of the Book Sponsorship Amount was duly made by the Bank, the said books were never distributed nor delivered to the Bank.

During the Trial, we had submitted and led through evidence that the 1st and 2nd Defendants had breached their contractual and fiduciary duties owed to the Plaintiff. We also submitted that all the Defendants had conspired to defraud the Bank and that the 3rd, 4th and 5th Defendants had been unjustly enriched at the expense of the Bank.

Ultimately, the High Court held inter alia that the Defendants are liable to the Bank jointly and/or severally for the Book Sponsorship Amount, the 3rd, 4th and 5th Defendants are also to pay exemplary and aggravated damages in the sum of RM1,000,000.00 to the Bank and each Defendant is to pay costs of RM20,000.00 to the Bank.  

For more insights into this area of law, please contact our Litigation Partners:
P Jayasingam
Wong Keat Ching
Thavaselvi Pararajasingam
Idza Hajar Ahmad Idzam
Nan Muhammad Ridhwan Rosnan


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