During a hearing today, lawyer Khoo Guan Huat, appearing for the contractor, claimed that “parties are close to a settlement.”
The apex court was scheduled to hear the government’s bid to quash a court order granted to Dhaya Maju which allowed the company to challenge the government’s termination of the KVDT2 contract, as well as the government’s application to set aside an Erinford injunction granted.
Federal Court judge Nallini Pathmanathan asked the government and the company’s lawyers about the current status of settlement negotiations.
“There’s some coverage in the media saying that there’s going to be a settlement,” Nalini said, adding that the court was prepared to reschedule the hearing while parties pursued settlement negotiations.
To that, senior federal counsel Ahmad Hanir Hambaly @ Arwi told the court that there were still several matters that needed to be resolved before the settlement can be finalised.
Fellow senior federal counsel Asliza Ali added that the Attorney-General’s Chambers (AGC) needed to seek further instructions from the transport ministry and sought that the court fix the matter for mention pending settlement. Khoo agreed to the request.
The Federal Court fixed July 29 for mention.
Other judges who sat with Nallini were Vernon Ong and Zabariah Mohd. Yusof.
Two legal actions filed over KVDT2 termination
Dhaya Maju had in 2020 commenced a lawsuit against the government, transport minister Wee Ka Siong and two others, seeking to declare the termination illegal, unlawful and a violation of a settlement agreement both parties had previously entered into.
They said the government had no basis to terminate the KVDT2 contract on grounds of public interest.
It alleged that Wee had an “ulterior and improper intention” to terminate the contract.
The company also filed a judicial review in the same year, in an attempt to quash the decision to terminate the KVDT2 contract.
KVDT2 was one of the 101 projects costing RM6.61 billion alleged by the Perikatan Nasional government in Parliament to have been awarded through direct negotiations during Pakatan Harapan’s administration.
The project spans 110km, involving two KTM railway tracks – one from Salak South to Seremban and the other from a point between KL Sentral and Angkasapuri to Port Klang.