By V. Anbalagan | Free Malaysia Today
The Federal Court will hear next month an appeal by two former senior staff of former Selangor menteri besar Khalid Ibrahim who were ordered to return their “golden handshake” payments amounting to RM1.219 million.
The payments were awarded after Khalid was removed from office in 2014 following the “Kajang Move” by PKR to oust him.
Court senior assistant registrar Sakinah Mohamad Pauzi had also ordered parties to file their written submissions on April 30. Hearing has been fixed on May 5.
Lawyer Edmund Bon Tai Soon is appearing for Faekah Husin, the former CEO of Menteri Besar Incorporated (MBI), and ex-chief operating officer Rohani Talib.
A case management was done via e-review today in keeping with the movement control order (MCO).
Bon said he had written to the court on April 13 to adjourn the case as he was still in Thailand, where he is pursuing his doctorate at a university in Bangkok.
In May 2018, the Court of Appeal held that Khalid was not authorised to approve the payment of RM695,400 to Faekah Husin and RM524,400 to Rohani.
Six others, who had also received payments from a total of RM2.7 million in compensation, were allowed to keep the money when the Selangor government abandoned an appeal against them today.
Arfa’eza Abdul Aziz had been paid RM476,935; Mustapha Mohd Talib RM265,320; Rahimah Kamarudin RM265,650; Dr Sulaiman Masri RM182,385; Abdul Halim Mohamed Yusof RM186,300; and Tuan Nazuri Tuan Ismail RM115,200.
On May 11, 2015, MBI filed the suit reclaiming the money paid to them through a voluntary separation scheme.
In 2017, the High Court held that the payments to all eight had been legally made. MBI then appealed.
Last year, the Federal Court allowed Faekah and Rohani leave to appeal the Court of Appeal ruling.
The court also allowed four legal questions framed by the applicants, including on whether MBI, which was established by the Menteri Besar Selangor (Incorporation) Enactment 1994, is a corporation sole or corporate aggregate.
Bon had submitted that it was the first case of its kind and the court’s decision would affect MBI in five states as well as the Minister of Finance and the Kuala Lumpur City Hall.
