Hydroshoppe fails in contempt bid against Fahmi Fadzil, others in KL Tower dispute

• High Court judge Roz Mawar Rozain ruled there were no grounds to grant leave for the proceedings as there was no temporary injunction granted after Hydroshoppe Sdn Bhd and its subsidiary Menara KL Sdn Bhd lost in their application, a decision that was upheld by the Court of Appeal.

KUALA LUMPUR (June 9): A bid by the former operator of the iconic Kuala Lumpur Tower to institute contempt proceedings against Communications Minister Datuk Fahmi Fadzil and others was tossed out of court on Monday.

High Court judge Roz Mawar Rozain ruled there were no grounds to grant leave for the proceedings as there was no temporary injunction granted after Hydroshoppe Sdn Bhd and its subsidiary Menara KL Sdn Bhd lost in their application, a decision that was upheld by the Court of Appeal.

Roz Mawar said the court was not also persuaded by Hydroshoppe’s contention that authorities had encroached on its properties, however forceful, when its contract with the government expired on March 31.

"This court is not satisfied there is a prima facie case for this court to grant leave for contempt of court (to ask the parties to answer)," she said.

Hydroshoppe and Menara KL had sought leave for committal, as they claimed that despite the ongoing suit filed by the two, the authorities’ and the new concessionaire’s actions to move in immediately after March 31 amounted to a disruption to the administration of justice.

They (Hydroshoppe and Menara KL) had filed leave for committal on April 24, following the purported encroachment.

The judge also ordered Hydroshoppe and Menara KL to pay RM15,000 costs to Fahmi and the government, and RM10,000 total for the other defendants named in the suit, namely LSH Service Master Sdn Bhd, LSH Best Builders Sdn Bhd and Service Master (M) Sdn Bhd.

Hydroshoppe and Menara KL have also instituted contempt against two office bearers of the three companies named as defendants.

Besides Fahmi, five other officials were also named, including Dang Wangi district police chief Sulizmie Affendy Sulaiman, Federal Land Commissioner Datuk Muhammad Azmi Mohd Zain and Communications Ministry secretary general Datuk Mohamad Fauzi Md Isa.

Injunction application also dismissed

After hearing submissions from the three parties (namely Hydroshoppe and Menara KL, the government, and representatives from the three companies), Roz Mawar on Monday also decided to dismiss the inter partes (between the parties) injunction application sought by the plaintiffs.

Roz Mawar agreed with government representative senior federal counsel (SFC) Ahmad Hanir Hambaly @ Arwi, and LSH Service Master, LSH Best Builders and Service Master represented by counsel Datuk Malik Imtiaz Sarwar and Datuk Arthur Wang’s submission that the matter is considered academic.

“This court is in agreement with the learned SFC and Malik in all counts, as this matter is considered academic as the plaintiffs are not able to proceed with the concession now (as their term ends on March 31). Hence, this (injunction) application is considered academic.

“Furthermore, if there is a case, the plaintiffs could still seek damages,” the judge said.

Roz Mawar ordered Hydroshoppe and Menara KL to pay RM20,000 costs to Fahmi and the government, and another RM20,000 to be paid to the three defendants.

Earlier, Ahmad Hanir had submitted that the plaintiffs cannot impose an injunction on the government, and there was nothing to injunct, as the property in question belongs to the government and not the plaintiff.

Malik, meanwhile, said that the injunction sought was academic as their clients continue to run the facility as they are the new concessionaires awarded by the government since April 1.

Hydroshoppe and Menara KL lead counsel Vinayak Sri Ram had asked that the injunction be imposed on the five defendants, as there were serious issues to be tried, and had the defendants not used police powers to seize the premises, they would continue to be operating it.

Prior to this, Hydroshoppe and Menara KL had on April 8 failed in their bid to obtain an ad interim (temporary) injunction as Roz Mawar dismissed it against all five defendants.

At the Court of Appeal on May 30, the plaintiffs also failed in their appeal against the dismissal.

July 14 hearing on govt and other defendants’ applications

Following the dismissal of the injunction, Roz Mawar fixed July 14 to hear the government’s and the three defendant companies’ (LSH Service Master, LSH Best Builders and Service Master) separate applications to strike out the suit.

The government and the three companies had filed separate applications to strike out the RM1 billion suit that Hydroshoppe and Menara KL had filed in March.

As a result, Roz Mawar decided to hear both applications together on July 14, while on the same day the court will also hold case management for the plaintiffs’ application to amend their suit.

Hydroshoppe and Menara KL filed the suit on March 27 claiming that Lim Seong Hai Capital Bhd (KL:LSH) and its units had induced a breach of a contract that the plaintiffs had agreed to with the government in an Aug 1, 2022 meeting.

They claim that LSH Capital, subsidiary LSH Service Master and its units had committed dishonest assistance, and want the award of the KL Tower concession to LSH Service Master be declared void and unlawful.

LSH Capital's joint venture partner Service Master, which holds the remaining 30% of LSH Service Master, is also named as a defendant in the suit.

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