KOTA KINABALU, June 19 — The multi-million-ringgit legal suit by Sabah Foundation against former chief minister Tan Sri Musa Aman is a politically-motivated move designed to distract and mislead the public, said the latter’s lawyer Tengku Fuad Ahmad.
Fuad said that it was inappropriate for the body to publicly announce the suit through the media prior to having the papers served on the defendant.
“First, Tan Sri Musa Aman emphatically denies any wrongdoing during his tenure as chairman of Yayasan Sabah. Specifically, he denies that he has ever breached any of his fiduciary duties as Yayasan Sabah Chairman and that the allegations made against him today are scandalous and utterly false.
“Second, it is highly suspicious, irregular and improper to learn of Yayasan Sabah’s alleged suit through a press release and the media. Normally, when you commence a suit, the claim and cause-papers are served on the defendant or his lawyer. In this case, neither Tan Sri Musa nor I have been served with any papers whatsoever,” he said.
It said it was particularly unbecoming as both his office and Musa’s residence were both easily accessible.
“The more likely explanation as to why we are hearing about this through the press is that this so-called suit is a nothing more than a politically motivated publicity stunt: designed to distract and mislead the public,” he said.
At the time of writing, he said that he had yet to receive the statement of claim.
Sabah Foundation, the largest timber concession holder in the state, announced today it was suing Musa for RM872 million it claimed was lost through dubious awards.
Foundation director Datuk Jamalul Kiram Mohd Zakaria said the lawsuit was logged in the judiciary’s e-filing system on June 16 for concession awards issued during Musa’s term as chief minister for 15 years before May 2018.
He alleged Musa had failed as the chairman of the board of trustees to fulfil his fiduciary responsibility to protect the interest of Sabah Foundation, who had gone from 3,300 square miles of timber concession areas to just 209,986 hectares since it was set up in 1966.
In the statement of claim, the foundation asserted that Musa, whose tenure as chairman coincided with his terms as the chief minister from March 27, 2003 till May 2018, had engineered a scheme for personal gains by systematically selling off its concession areas to selected or nominated companies for between RM1,600 and RM2,000 per hectare through another subsidiary body — Rakyat Berjaya Sdn Bhd.
