THE Court of Appeal granted businessman J.R. Deepak Jaikishan an interim injunction to restrain Bakti Wira Development Sdn Bhd from disposing of 19% of his shares in Astacanggih Sdn Bhd.

The interim injunction was granted to Deepak pending disposal of his appeal to reinstate a civil suit, which he had filed against Bakti Wira, former prime minister Najib Razak and his wife Rosmah Mansor over a land deal.

The civil suit pertaining to the land deal that allegedly caused Deepak’s company to suffer huge losses, was struck out by the high court on July 17, last year.

Deepak’s appeal to reinstate that civil suit has been scheduled for hearing at the Court of Appeal on October 8.

At today’s proceedings, conducted virtually via Zoom, a three-member bench comprising Justices Hanipah Farikullah, Azizah Nawawi and Ahmad Zaidi Ibrahim heard Deepak’s application for an  interim injunction order against Boustead Holdings and its subsidiary Bakti Wira, pending disposal of his appeal in the civil suit.

Justice Hanipah, who led the bench, had however, dismissed Deepak’s application for an interim injunction to restrain Bakti Wira and Boustead from dealing with 90.2ha of land in Kapar and Bukit Raja in Selangor.

Deepak’s lawyer Alex De Silva, who was assisted by R. Sundaradevan, sought an interim injunction to restrain Bakti Wira Development from disposing of 80% of the shares, which belonged to Deepak.

However, lawyer Robert Lazar, appearing for the two companies, told the court that Deepak only owned 19% of the shares. 

In his motion, Deepak claimed there were elements of conspiracy, duress, fraud and undue influence in the course of executing the share sale agreement and the land sale agreement by Boustead and Bakti Wira.

He said the balance of convenience and justice lies with the granting of the interim order to preserve the integrity of the appeal and prevent its outcome from becoming academic and nugatory.

Deepak filed the suit on Octpber 12, 2018, against the two companies, Najib and Rosmah, claiming that he had suffered losses due to the conspiracy, fraud and undue influence by the defendants in a property deal that allegedly caused his company to suffer huge losses.

He sought RM600 million in general damages, RM50 million in exemplary damages and RM26 million in aggravated damages. – Bernama, June 30, 2021.