JOHOR BARU, July 26 — Kumpulan Perubatan Johor (KPJ) Sdn Bhd, was ordered to pay RM70.4 million in damages to Hospital Penawar Sdn Bhd by the High Court here today, after they were found to have breached a joint venture agreement.
Judge Datuk Abdul Rahman Sebli in his judgement said KPJ had breached the conditions of its joint venture agreement with Hospital Penawar and therefore had to pay RM70.4 million in damages.
He also ordered KPJ to pay an additional interest of five per cent starting May 1 until the settlement of the amount and legal cost of RM150,000.
Hospital Penawar was represented by counsel Datuk Muhammad Adam Abdullah while counsels S. Youggeswary and Jagjit Kaur appeared for KPJ.
The lawsuit was filed by Hospital Penawar chairman Dr Mohd Adnan Sulaiman and its managing director Azizan Sulaiman in their capacity as the hospital’s shareholders.
This was following KPJ’s decision to construct a new hospital in Pasir Gudang which was about a kilometre from the existing Hospital Penawar.
The construction of the new hospital was in breach of the May 1995 agreement which stated that KPJ owned a 30-percent share in Hospital Penawar in return for its expertise and resources for the mutual benefit of both facilities.
However, in Oct 2009 the plaintiffs discovered that KPJ had started building their new hospital offering the same services. – Bernama
