KUALA LUMPUR, Sept 9 — Datuk Seri Rina Harun plans to seek an out-of-court settlement with a French-based production company seeking judgment debtor summons against her for alleged failure to pay them.
Rina’s lawyer Mohd Irwan Mohd Mubarak was quoted as saying that there was a plan to reach a settlement with the plaintiff.
“(It will be an) out-of-court settlement, God willing,” he was quoted as saying by Malaysiakini today.
Earlier today, Rina was absent from today’s proceedings fixed for the judgment debtor summons at the High Court.
A judgment debtor summons is a summons issued by the court to be served on the judgment debtor to compel the person to appear in court to provide information about their assets and how they can be disposed of to settle the judgment debt.
According to court documents obtained by Malay Mail, a statement of claim against Rina was filed on November 8, 2018 for US$553,795 (RM2.3 million) by the Paris-based film production company Sarl Novovision and that the full amount must be paid by July 31, 2019.
The claim was for several films, comedy shows and documentaries within the comedy genre to three companies of which Rina was director.
Lawyer Mark Ho, who represented the firm, had said Rina had cited several reasons for her absence after she was supposed to comply with the court order for the judgment debtor summons hearing.
According to him, Rina indicated to the court that she needed to attend the funeral of her bodyguard who had passed away and also Parliament (Senate) was in session which she was obligated to attend as a minister.
According to the background of the case, Rina, who was one of the directors of now-defunct companies Eurofine (M) Sdn Bhd, Fine Mobile Network Sdn Bhd and Fine TV Network Sdn Bhd, had purchased several comedy shows and documentaries from the Paris-based film production company between 2011 and 2013.
Rina and another company director, Ida Rahayu Md Noor, had in May 2014 entered into a guarantee agreement with Sarl Novovision that they would personally and jointly undertake all liabilities of the companies.
However, the companies were closed down between December 2013 and August 2015, respectively.
In the same documents, Ida Rahayu was also declared bankrupt on October 5, 2015.
The court has fixed October 22 to hear the judgment debtor summons application by the French firm.
