KUALA LUMPUR, June 21 — A developer suing Datuk Seri Tengku Adnan Tengku Mansor has denied the minister’s claim that it was dropped from a joint venture for being unable to “perform” its part in a proposed project.
Describing Tengku Adnan’s claim as “unfounded” and “premature”, the developer Damai Kiaramas Sdn Bhd’s chairman Datuk Hassanuddin Ali said the company has the financial capability and necessary expertise to develop a 12-acre plot of land near Taman Tun Dr Ismail.
As the Federal Territories Minister, Tengku Adnan is also the chairman of the Yayasan Wilayah Persekutuan (YWP) — which Damai Kiaramas said had agreed to partner it in the project before allegedly wrongly terminating the joint-venture at one point.
“He has not given a chance for us to prove that we can do it.
“We got all the experts. We got the funds. I strongly rebut what he says based on all these,” Hassanuddin told The Malay Mail Online, saying his company had engaged professionals to work on the project.
Showing a bankers’ cheque for the land premium of over RM60 million that was drawn up by Damai Kiaramas this February as part of the joint venture deal, Hassanuddin said the company was ever ready to pay the amount.
In a March 21 letter to YWP sighted by The Malay Mail Online, Hassanuddin had said that the firm was offering RM160 million inclusive of the land premium, expressing readiness to give the bankers’ cheque to the foundation at “any time desired”.
On Thursday, Kuala Lumpur High Court Judicial Commissioner Kamaludin Md Said granted an injunction against Tengku Adnan, YWP and developer Memang Perkasa Sdn Bhd, to stop them from doing anything to disrupt the joint-venture with Damai Kiaramas.
But Tengku Adnan shrugged off the court injunction against him when met the same day, claiming that YWP’s board had decided to pick another developer as Damai Kiaramas was unable to “perform” its part in a mixed development project.
Criticising Tengku Adnan for his remark and accusing him of “lying”, Hassanuddin said the company is claiming that the Federal Territories Minister is favouring the Singapore-based company for a “reason best known to himself”.
Last Friday, Damai Kiaramas filed a lawsuit against the three over a project to redevelop a land, which now has a community of 183 families squeezed into 100 units in longhouses.
In its statement of claim sighted by The Malay Mail Online, it said that it had put in effort and drawn up the project’s plans and entered into talks with YWP to jointly develop the land.
But after it had finalised the terms of the agreement with YWP, Tengku Adnan and the foundation repeatedly asked for a greater share of profits in the project by the tens of millions, it claimed.
Damai Kiaramas is now seeking a court declaration that the joint venture agreement between it and YWP was formed on September 17 and remains valid.
It also wants the court to declare YWP’s termination of the joint-venture as invalid and to compel the foundation to carry on with the partnership as agreed.
It is also demanding an order to render any agreement between the foundation and developer Memang Perkasa over the land as invalid.
It claimed that Memang Perkasa had offered alternative proposals to induce the foundation to go back on its joint venture agreement, despite Damai Kiaramas having done all the initial work for the project.
The company now wants Tengku Adnan and Memang Perkasa to pay compensation and general damages for all the costs it had borne since 2008 when it first mooted the project.
Damai Kiaramas was set up in early 2009 to provide a long-term solution for the former estate workers living on the land after their estate was closed down 32 years ago.
The former estate workers had worked on an estate that was developed into the Kuala Lumpur Golf and Country Club (KLGCC) and were resettled into longhouses on the land as a temporary measure.
Damai Kiaramas then drew up plans for a mixed development on the land, including a planned low-cost flat to house the former estate workers.
