Dr Mahathir was identified as one of those given a copy of the “Umno Trust”. — file pic
KUALA LUMPUR, Aug 27 — The nexus between Umno and certain conglomerates has been revealed further in a High Court hearing last week involving the past shareholders of Realmild Sdn Bhd, the shadowy company that took over media giant The New Straits Times Press (Malaysia) Bhd in 1993, and Malaysian Resources Corporation Berhad (MRCB). Former Realmild director Datuk Khalid Ahmad had sued Datuk Seri Abdul Rahman Maidin in March 2005 for RM10 million over the sale of a five per cent stake in the company in 1999, which took place during a shake-up and buy-out related to Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim’s sacking from government.
Abdul Rahman had paid RM5 million but later reneged on the remainder as he learnt from Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad that the shares actually belonged to Umno.
Abdul Rahman is also now seeking to recover the RM5 million he paid to Khalid, saying the businessman had misrepresented the ownership of the shares.
However, Khalid has maintained that the five per cent stake was his own although he acknowledged that the majority stake was part of an “Umno Trust”. The other directors in Realmild then were former Berita Harian group editor Datuk Ahmad Nazri Abdullah, New Straits Times group editor Datuk Abdul Kadir Jasin, and Mohd Noor Mutalib, who replaced Khalid as NSTP managing director in February 1993.
The dispute in the High Court’s commercial division is to resume on September 1 with testimony from witnesses that Realmild’s ultimate beneficial owner is Umno.
In documents made available to
The Malaysian Insider, Khalid outlined in his writ of summons that Abdul Rahman had approached him for his five per cent stake in Realmild sometime in July 1999 and that he had agreed to sell 355,050 ordinary shares for RM15 million, which was half of what he estimated to be the fair value for the shares.
Realmild, originally a RM2 company, was then already the majority shareholder of MRCB, which is now developing the KL Sentral commercial and transport hub in Brickfields.
Khalid said Abdul Rahman made a part payment of RM5 million and on July 19, 1999, wrote an “Acknowledgment of Indebtedness” for the remaining RM10 million which was to be paid in two tranches. But the money was never paid and he later instructed his lawyers to demand back the payment in September 2004.
Khalid is now seeking for the full payment with interest of eight per cent until payment is made and other costs, saying that the five per cent stake belonged to him and no one else as he had worked for the shares by guaranteeing loans given to the company.
However, in his counter-claim, Abdul Rahman said both agreed on a sum of RM10 million for Khalid’s block of shares and he made the first payment on August 1, 1999 with the final payment to be made on July 18, 2000.
Abdul Rahman testified that Daim had instructed him to buy out the MRCB shares. — daimzainuddin.com pic
Abdul Rahman, who was formerly the Malay Chamber of Commerce Penang president, said Tun Daim Zainuddin sometime in 1999 had instructed him to undertake a management buy-out of MRCB by purchasing the 7,101,001 ordinary shares in Realmild. He said the exercise was done in a few days, adding there was no formal sales and purchase agreement for Khalid’s stake. In his witness statement which has yet to be tendered in court, Abdul Rahman said he was summoned to meet Dr Mahathir, the then prime minister, and Tan Sri Nor Mohamad Yakcop, sometime at the end of 2001 and was told to transfer all of the 7,101,001 Realmild shares under his name to Datuk Seri Syed Anwar Jamlullail, who is brother to the Perlis ruler.
“I was told by Dr Mahathir that the 7,101,001 Realmild shares belonged to Umno. I was extremely shocked as I never at any time knew that Umno was the true owner of the shares. As far as I was concerned, I undertook the acquisition of Realmild shares purely from a corporate and commercial standpoint. I raised funds for this exercise through my personal financial means without any assistance from any political entity.
“This is the first time that I became aware of this ‘Umno Trust’ on the Realmild shares,” he said in his witness statement made available to
The Malaysian Insider.
Abdul Rahman said he then met Khalid and queried him about the Umno ownership or “Umno Trust” over the Realmild shares, which the latter confirmed as true.
“He, however, took the position that the Umno ownership did not apply to the 355,050 shares he sold me.
“I refused to accept this as I was given very clear instructions from Dr Mahathir to transfer all of the 7,101,001 Realmild shares away,” he said, adding he later transferred the shares to Syed Anwar.
Abdul Rahman also said he asked Dr Mahathir about the RM40 million he paid for the shares, saying “Therefore, he said no payment will be made to me because the shares always belonged to Umno.” He also said Nor Mohamad also told him that the shares belonged to Umno and he would not be paid after transferring the shares.
He denied that Khalid is entitled to any claim from him as the ownership of the shares had been misrepresented.
“These shares had never belonged to him.
“I verily believe that the Plaintiff knew all along that the real owner of the shares was Umno and that these shares could be directed to be transferred to any third party at any time based on instructions from Umno leaders,” he added.
Another witness, Ahmad Nazri, said in his witness statement that he held the majority share of 80 per cent in Realmild although 70 per cent of his shares were actually in trust.
“I was holding in trust for person by (name of) Datuk Dr Mahathir Mohamad,” he was quoted as saying in the document made available to
The Malaysian Insider.
Ahmad, who headed Berita Harian until 1999, said there was also a trust deed to back his testimony.
“Yes, the trust was prepared by legal firm Amin & Company. One copy of trust [was given] to Datuk Seri Dr Mahathir Mohamad, another to Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim and I keep one copy which I passed to Datuk Kadir Jasin somewhere in 1999 when I transferred 70 per cent share to Datuk Kadir Jasin as he knows of the trust,” he said.
Ahmad Nazri said he paid for the shareholdings of the other three people and had told Khalid about the arrangement over the shares.
He also said the Realmild shares held by the directors were personal and owned by them, adding 10 per cent of the shares was also his own shareholding.
He added that he was told by Daim to relinquish his shares in Realmild in July 1999.
“My 70 per cent which I hold under trust for Datuk Seri Dr Mahathir was transferred to Datuk Kadir Jasin and my personal 10 per cent was transferred to Datuk Abdul Rahman Maidin... a good friend of mine and I told him the witness is our God,” he said.
Ahmad Nazri said there was no price mentioned for his personal Realmild shares but they both agreed that if Abdul Rahman did well in business, he would consider some payment.
He also said that he did not tell Khalid to sell his shares to Abdul Rahman.
MI
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