Deepak’s lawyer Irzan Iswat Mohd Noor said the High Court judge, Azimah Omar, would hear the case.

He said Najib and his wife, Rosmah Mansor, filed the application on Jan 7, while the other two defendants – Boustead Holdings Bhd and its subsidiary, Bakti Wira Development Sdn Bhd – filed theirs on Dec 17.

“Among the grounds given by all the defendants to strike out the suit was that they were not involved in the alleged conspiracy,” he told reporters after the case management before deputy registrar Farah Shuhada Ramli here today.

In his suit filed on Oct 12, Deepak claimed he had suffered losses due to conspiracy, fraud and undue influence by the defendants in a property deal that caused his company to suffer huge losses.

Deepak said that as a director and majority shareholder of Astacanggih Sdn. Bhd, he had signed a land deal with the director and majority shareholder of Awan Megah (M) Sdn. Bhd, Raja Ropiaah Raja Abdullah, over three pieces of land involving 181.9 hectares in Mukim Kapar, Klang and Mukim Bukit Raja, in the Petaling district.

He further claimed that a deposit payment of RM13 million had been made by Astacanggih to Awan Megah and a land bond for RM72.5 million from Kuwait Finance House (M) Bhd was submitted to the Malaysian government.

However, he said Awan Megah refused to produce the original land titles for transfer to Astacanggih.

Deepak claimed that as a result of the conspiracy and interference from Najib and Rosmah, who were named the first and second defendants, he was forced to sell 80% or 16 million units of his shares in Astacanggih to Boustead Holdings through Wira development.

He is seeking RM600 million in general damages, RM50 million in exemplary damages and RM26 million in aggravated damages.

Lawyer David Mathews represented Najib and Rosmah, while Boustead Holdings and Bakti Wira Development were represented by lawyer Kenny Chan.