MBI files suit against former staff

PETALING JAYA: Selangor's Mentri Besar Incorporated (MBI) filed a suit against eight former staff members to recover RM2.7 million in severance payments and additional damages at the Shah Alam High Court.
Representing MBI, lawyer Shahrim Razak said the suit, which also included interests and other costs, was filed on May 11 and case management has been fixed on July 28.
"The legal action was initiated to recover the unauthorised issuance of the total amount of approximately RM2.7 million to the former employees of MBI.
"MBI is also claiming for damages, costs, and 5% interests on the amount owed if the court rules in their favour," Shahrim told theSun via text today.
The defendants named are Faekah Husin, Rohany Talib, Arfa'eza Abdul Aziz, Mustapha Mohd Talib, Rahimah Kamarudin, Dr. Sulaiman Masri, Abdul Halim Mohamed Yusof, and Nazuri Ismail.
Those named were all former staff members under former Mentri Besar Tan Sri Abdul Khalid Ibrahim's administration, who was ousted from his position last September and is now the independent assemblyman for Port Klang.
They were allegedly paid at a higher than usual rate when they resigned from their positions after Khalid's ouster, with Faekah, who is former MBI CEO and Khalid's close political ally, walking away with RM695,400 alone.
Representing the defendants, Bon Advocates head of chambers Edmund Bon said the suit has no legal basis and appears to be motivated by ill intentions.
"Our clients will vigorously defend the suit. MBI's suit has no legal basis. The case appears to be motivated by spite to embarrass the defendants and Khalid," Bon told theSun.
If MBI is sincere, he said, then MBI ought to look at the law again and withdraw their suit accordingly, or risk an unlawful dismissal suit from his clients.
The payment was made when Khalid stepped down as Mentri Besar after being sacked by PKR for failing to appear before a party disciplinary hearing regarding the Kinrara-Damansara Expressway (Kidex) controversy and the out-of-court settlement of his RM67 million debt with Bank Islam.
The events were the result of a state leadership dispute between Khalid and PKR deputy president Mohamed Azmin Ali that started shortly after the 13th General Election in 2013.
In the episode, PKR also triggered the Kajang by-election in late January 2014 by having its then representative, Lee Chin Cheh, resign from his position to place former Opposition leader Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim as Mentri Besar to end the spat between Khalid and Azmin.
However, the Court of Appeals convicted Anwar for sodomising his former aide Saiful Bukhari Azlan and he was disqualified from participating in the by-election.
He was replaced by his wife Datuk Seri Wan Azizah Wan Ismail, who is PKR president and was elected as Kajang assemblyman, but she was denied the Mentri Besar position by Selangor Sultan Sharafuddin Idris Shah, who appointed Azmin instead.
Anwar is now serving his five-year prison sentence in the Sungai Buloh Prison after the Federal Court upheld his conviction on February 10.