In an announcement on Bursa, BHIC said the suit was filed at the Kuala Lumpur High Court on Sept 27 by Contraves Advanced Devices Sdn Bhd (CAD) and Contraves Electrodynamics Sdn Bhd (CED).

The suit named BNS, BHIC, BHIC Defence Technologies Sdn Bhd (BHICDT) as well as BHICDT directors Salihin Abang and Syed Zahiruddin Putra Syed Osman.

CAD and CED claim that BNS’ decision to retract 12 letters of award (LoA) for the LCS project was invalid. They had been tasked with purchasing equipment from original equipment manufacturers (OEMs) for the naval frigates.

The LoAs were reportedly cancelled by BNS last month following allegations of misconduct and fraudulent dealings.

CAD is seeking allegedly unpaid sums of  RM880,068.21, €39.87 million, £3.78 million and 55.94 million Swedish kronors from BNS, while CED is seeking RM216 million.

The firms also want a declaration that Salihin and Syed Zahiruddin breached their fiduciary, common law, and statutory duties and that BHIC, BHICDT and BNS wrongfully conspired to defraud them.

They are also seeking an injunction to bar the defendants from communicating with the OEMs on the project.

Case management for the suit has been fixed for Oct 11.