THE government has filed an application to strike out a suit filed by tycoon Halim Saad over what he claims to be a forced acquisition of his holdings in the Renong-UEM group in 2001, FMT reports.

The two other defendants named in the suit are former prime minister Dr Mahathir Mohamad and former finance minister Nor Mohamed Yakcop.

In the defendants’ application, they said Halim’s lawsuit was “scandalous, frivolous, vexatious” and an abuse of the court process.

Alternatively, they want the High Court to nullify the suit.

In the application filed last week, the defendants also asked that all other proceedings in the suit be suspended until the striking-out application is determined.

In his suit filed in July, Halim had claimed that in 2001, Mahathir and Nor Mohamed had directed him to divest his shareholding in UEM and Renong as well as his directorship of the two companies and their subsidiaries.

“This obligated me to relinquish control over Renong and UEM to the government and dispose of my shares at a loss,” he said in the statement of claim.

However, in Nor Mohamed’s affidavit, he said Renong, peak of the 1997 Asian financial crisis, had a debt totalling RM26 billion, which constituted 7% of the total value of the banking system at the time.

As a result, he said, Mahathir had agreed to his suggestion that Renong and UEM be restructured.

Nor Mohamed added that Halim had willingly supported the proposal and that the exercise was completed on Ocobert 8, 2001.

“I stress that the acquisition of the plaintiff’s shares was not done forcibly. There was a series of discussions before compensation was paid,” Nor Mohamed said.

He said that Halim was compensated RM165 million for the loss of control of Renong. A sum of RM45 million was paid on May 22, 2003, with the balance remitted the following day.

He said Halim had filed an earlier suit 10 years ago, claiming he was unhappy with the RM165 million payment, but the action was struck out.

In a defence statement filed by the Attorney-General’s Chambers last month, the defendants said Halim could not pursue the suit because of the Limitation Act 1953 and the Public Authorities Protection Act 1948, which states that action must be filed within six years of the date of the cause. – November 20, 2023.