THE Kuala Lumpur High Court has set November 18 for decision on a judicial review application by Deloitte PLT to challenge the ruling by the Securities Commission of Malaysia (SC) to dismiss its application for a review of the RM2.2 million fine imposed on the auditing firm.

Counsel Malik Imtiaz Sarwar, representing Deloitte, revealed the date when contacted by Bernama.

The matter was supposed to be decided by Justice Mariana Yahya today, but it has since been vacated following the implementation of the conditional movement-control order in Selangor, Putrajaya and Kuala Lumpur from October 14 to 27.

It was reported earlier that the SC fined Deloitte a total of RM2.2 million for four breaches linked to the RM2.4 billion bond (sukuk) issued by Bandar Malaysia Sdn Bhd (BMSB), a 1Malaysia Development Bhd (1MDB) subsidiary in 2014.

Deloitte was the statutory auditor for BMSB and 1MDB Real Estate Sdn Bhd (1MDB RE), now known as TRX City Sdn Bhd, for their financial years ended March 31, 2015 to 2016.

On November 14, 2019, Deloitte filed the judicial review application against the SC’s decision to dismiss its application to review the administrative sanctions and retained the sanctions imposed.

On November 25, 2019, Justice Mariana granted leave to Deloitte to commence its judicial review application.

In its application, the auditing firm is seeking to overturn the SC’s review decision on August 19, 2019, which maintained the RM2.2 million fine against Deloitte imposed on January 30, 2019.

Deloitte is also seeking for a certiorari order to quash the SC’s review decision to impose the fine, besides seeking for the return of the RM2.2 million it paid as a fine to SC in the event that the court rules in favour of its judicial review application, costs and any further order deemed fit and appropriate by the court. – Bernama, October 26, 2020.