MMC-Gamuda JV to seek leave to appeal against court order

PETALING JAYA: MMC Corp Bhd and Gamuda Bhd intend to file an application to the Federal Court to seek leave to appeal against an order to pay Wayss & Freytag an arbitration sum of RM105 million.
The Court of Appeal had dismissed an appeal filed by MMC’s wholly-owned subsidiary MMC Engineering Group Bhd (MMCEG) and Gamuda, which have a 50% interest each in the MMCEG-Gamuda Joint Venture (JV).
“The decision of the Court of Appeal is not expected to have any material impact on the earnings of the MMC Group and Gamuda Group for the financial year ending Dec 31, 2016 and July 31, 2017 respectively,” MMC and Gamuda said in separate stock exchange filings.
The JV had launched arbitration proceedings against Wayss & Freytag (Malaysia) Sdn Bhd in 2008 over a contract dispute involving the SMART (Stormwater Management and Road Tunnel) project.
The MMC-Gamuda JV awarded Wayss & Freytag the contract to construct and complete the north tunnel drive of the SMART project. Due to Wayss & Freytag’s alleged delay in the progress of its work, the JV terminated the sub-contract in 2006, which resulted in MMC-Gamuda JV and Wayss & Freytag submitting various claims against each other.
The application filed by the JV to determine questions of law arising out of the arbitral award was dismissed by the Kuala Lumpur High Court in 2014.