Lawyers for former Petrosaudi employee quit

SINGAPORE: The Singapore lawyers for Xavier Andre Justo (pix), former employee of PetroSaudi International, have dropped themselves from acting any further for him, The Straits Times reported today.
The news report said a court order issued on Monday by assistant registrar N. Ramasamy approved the application by law firm Damodara Hazra to cease acting for both Justo and his firm Justo Consulting in the suit against The Edge media group owner Tong Kooi Ong and two others.
The court order also allowed the lawyers to serve notice on Justo by dispatch to the Bangkok prison where he is held.
The report said that in the court papers filed to seek the discharge from representing Justo any further, lawyer Clement Ong explained that Justo's principal lawyers from Geneva-based law firm Lalive had told them that they were no longer acting for Justo.
The news report said the withdrawal move without a lawyer replacement could mean the end of the Singapore court suit.
According to a previous news report, which was based on court documents filed last November, Justo claimed that he handed over two data storage drives in Tong's presence in Singapore last year in return for US$2 million (RM$7.77 million), which he never received.
He wanted the items which contain data about PetroSaudi and its business partner 1Malaysia Development Bhd (1MDB), to be returned and for any copy to be destroyed, the report said.
Tong was reported to be contending that Justo had no right to the drives because they were stolen from PetroSaudi.
Justo, a Swiss national, is serving a three-year jail term in Thailand for attempted extortion and blackmail of PetroSaudi.
The information from Justo is said to be linked to articles in The Edge and The Sarawak Report about 1MDB. — Bernama