FGV suit against Isa Samad, Emir Mavani: Defendants object to witness statement

KUALA LUMPUR (Sept 24): The defence lawyer in FGV Holdings Bhd's civil suit against its former chairman Tan Sri Mohd Isa Abdul Samad (pictured) and ex-president and group chief executive officer Datuk Mohd Emir Mavani Abdullah said both defendants objected to the admissibility of plaintiff witness Zalily Mohamed Zaman Khan's evidence in the case, claiming that she has no direct or personal knowledge of the facts of the trial.

Zalily is the chief internal auditor of plantation group FGV, which filed the suit against Mohd Isa and Mohd Emir following the purchase of a luxury condominium at The Troika KLCC here.

It was reported that FGV claimed that Mohd Isa and Mohd Emir bought the condominium at an inflated price. It was reported that the civil suit also concerns the alleged misuse of company cars and petrol benefits by Mohd Emir.

Defence lawyer Lavinia Kumaraendran told theedgemarkets.com today after the trial at the High Court here that the defence is saying Zalily does not have personal knowledge "because she was not there [and] she was just asked to investigate by the new [FGV] board".

"So, why should we refer to the documents that she doesn't have any knowledge about?" Lavinia said.

Earlier today, the hearing was conducted before High Court Judicial Commissioner Quay Chew Soon. The lawyer representing FGV is Arthur Ng Wei Meng.

Ng told theedgemarkets.com today that Quay will go through tomorrow the questions and answers in Zalily's witness statement one by one and determine whether the evidence will be admitted to court.

"The defendants objected to some portions of the witness statement as hearsay. So, tomorrow we will go through and then the judge (judicial commissioner) will decide," Ng said.

In legal context, hearsay is an out-of-court statement used in court as evidence for a case.

The High Court hearing before Quay continues tomorrow morning.

According to news reports, FGV had filed the suit against Mohd Isa and Mohd Emir in November 2018.

It was reported that FGV is claiming RM4.54 million from the two defendants for the purchase of the condominiums and another RM3.15 million from Mohd Emir.

It was reported that FGV is also claiming interest of 5% per annum on the amount, from the date of the lawsuit until full settlement.

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