A NORWEGIAN oil services firm today lodged a police report over text messages that have given rise to claims of judicial fixing in Malaysia.

Aker Solutions, Norway’s largest oil services enterprise, said in a statement that a website had published text messages that suggested the occurrence of judicial fixing in Malaysia, implicating the company’s involvement.

According to the statement, Aker Solutions claimed that the messages published by the website which was not named “appeared to be fabricated”.

“Several circumstances show that the published text messages appear to be fabricated.

“Aker Solutions strongly rejects the suggestion of involvement in inappropriate interference with the legal process in Malaysia.

“The company has no knowledge of the allegations on the website nor the alleged text messages.

“Aker Solutions urges the Malaysian police to investigate the purported text messages as they are clearly intended to defame Aker Solutions,” it stated without explicitly alluding to the website Sarawak Report which had published news about the text messages.

Sarawak Report claimed that the text messages portrayed an Aker Solutions representative allegedly insinuating that the company had engaged with legal professionals who may influence the court’s judgment.

This referred to a legal tussle between an Aker Solutions former worker and the company.

Aker Solutions’ former legal director, K. Seetha, had sued the company for allegedly blocking her from communicating with investigators. She was eventually released from the firm in February 2018, according to Reuters.

The Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC) was at that time investigating the Norwegian firm for purportedly making false representations to obtain licences for its Malaysian subsidiary from the national oil corporation, Petronas.

Aker Solutions, however, asserted that the former employee had broken confidentiality obligations.

“The aforementioned personnel case involves a former employee in Malaysia who was dismissed in 2018, and subsequently sued, after Aker Solutions, following internal and external investigations, had found several emails that the employee had sent to customers, business partners and other third parties, which divulged confidential and sensitive information, and/or false information, which emails were fabricated to read as if sent by other persons.

“The emails were aimed at smearing Aker Solutions’ reputation. The Aker Solutions case is still pending before the Kuala Lumpur High Court.

“Later, the former employee sued the company for abuse of process. However, the case was struck out by the Kuala Lumpur High Court on May 10 on the grounds, among others, that the former employee had no reasonable cause of action, and that the suit was in itself an abuse of process,” it said.

Currently the case is at the Court of Appeal.

The Chief Justice’s Office filed a police report on June 7 after the text messages were circulated, insinuating that senior lawyers had the ability to influence the court on the case.

Two senior lawyers who were implicated have refuted the allegation while the police have questioned seven people, including the lawyers, over the matter.

Aker Solutions stated that it wishes the matter can be resolved.

“Aker Solutions is committed to operating with the highest standards of integrity in all our locations and looks forward to the Malaysian authorities resolving the case of the fabricated text messages,” it said. – June 23, 2021.