The opposition leader in Kedah, PAS’ Amiruddin Hamzah, has lodged a report with the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC) over the mysterious manner in which the state government has settled a breach of contract suit involving Bina Darulaman Berhad (BDB).

A report has also been lodged with Bursa Saham Malaysia on Tuesday over BDB’s use of funds and accountability to its stakeholders, Amiruddin (right) added.

The state government, he said, holds the largest share in BDB through Kedah Development Corporation, chaired by BN Menteri Besar Mukhriz Mahathir, who took over the seat from PAS on May 5 last year.

“With the MACC and Bursa Saham reports, we hope Kedahans, the real stakeholder of BDB, which suffered a huge loss of RM2.5 million, are able to obtain further information regarding the matter,” said Amiruddin, who is the Anak Bukit assemblyperson.

Describing the matter as “strange but true”, Amiruddin said the state had a good chance of winning the five-year old case but preferred to settle it out of court for a whopping RM2.5 million.

He explained that BDB had issued a contract to a logging company in 2006 to clear 716ha of forest, where the 74.5km TEKIH (Trans-Eastern Kedah Interland Highway) is being built from Durian Burung to Kupang.

However, a breach of contract purportedly happened when the company asked for an extension of time to log the forest. The contract was cancelled when PAS took over Kedah in 2008.

Amiruddin said the contract was terminated because BDB’s core activities do not include logging.

In 2009, during PAS’ rule, BDB sued the company after it sought legal advice and was told it had a strong chance of winning the case, Amiruddin claimed.

He added that he was confident that the BDB board of directors had given their approval for the case to go to trial.

The case went to trial for almost four years then and when nearly at its end, the current BN government suddenly decided to settle the case out of court by paying the company a huge amount of money.

“Strange but true! Mukhriz now says the case was settled so that court procedures can be hastened and the case closed,” Amiruddin said.

‘Something is simply not right’

“Has Mukhriz taken over the role of the judge, that he can wish to close the case quickly? If he wants the case closed without any money paid to the company, it is acceptable. But why pay RM2.5 million to the one who issued the summons?” Amiruddin queried.

“Something is simply not right,” Amiruddin quipped.

Amiruddin queried whether Mukhriz had consulted a lawyer before this action was taken.

“Assuming that the BDB directors had approved, why was there a U-turn when three out of four directors had agreed to go to court in 2009? Was there a directive to do so by certain quarters?” Amiruddin further asked.

In an immediate response, Kedah MACC director Raja Khan Raja Ahmad said the commission views the report seriously and has submitted it to Putrajaya for further investigation.

In a press conference on Jan 22 in Alor Setar, Mukhriz said settling the case out of court was the best solution to speed up the court proceedings.

The amount settled was appropriate and effective, Mukhriz added at the press conference after the state executive councillors meeting at Wisma Darulaman.

Mukhriz stressed that the decision to settle out of court was made after the state government had held discussions with BDB.

“We have consulted our lawyers and if we do not settle out of court, we have much more to lose,” he said, declining to reveal the amount of the potential losses.