An application by InventQjaya Sdn Bhd to halt a High Court order that the company be wound up over its failure to pay RM240 million in debts failed today.

The Court of Appeal struck out the application following an objection by the government that the application was not made by the right person.

The company's application, with the affidavit of support, was filed by its Chief Executive Officer Dr Sadeg Mustafa Faris, through his counsel S N Nair.

The government objected to this, saying that Sadeg had no locus standi to file the application on behalf of InventQjaya.

The court, headed by Justice Zaleha Zahari, agreed with this and rejected the application.

Senior Federal Counsel Pretam Singh, for the government, told the court that the affidavit which was signed by Sadeg did not state that it was signed for or on behalf of the company.

"On this premise, he cannot be said to speak on behalf of the company," Bernama quoted him as saying.

"The fact that Sadeg signed the affidavit on Jan 3, this year in Bangkok also showed that he has fled Malaysia and was not interested to come to this country and lead the company," he added.

Sadeq, a US citizen, was not present today.

Huge debt

The High Court on Dec 5 last year allowed an application by the government to wind up InventQjaya.

The government said the company had breached a loan agreement entered by both parties on June 18, 2003.

The winding up petition dated April 25, 2006 was filed on the grounds that the company was unable to pay its debt amounting RM242 million.

The court also ordered that an official receiver be appointed as provisional liquidator, and had refused Sadeg's application for a stay of execution on the winding-up order.

InventQJaya is a collaborative effort between the government and an United States-based company, Reveo Inc, to undertake research and development to develop and commercialise frontier technology-based patents in Malaysia.