THANKFUL: Tufail (front row, sixth left) with his staff who are holding banners expressing their show of gratitude for his (Tufail) care and concern for their livelihood.
SIBU: The Court of Appeal in Kuching recently dismissed an appeal by Dato’ Ting Check Sii against Sanyan Holdings Sdn Bhd and Datuk Mohammad Tufail Mahmud.
Ting is a 13 per cent minority shareholder and director of Sanyan Holdings Sdn Bhd. Sanyan Holdings Sdn Bhd through its subsidiary, Pelita Towerview Sdn Bhd, owns Wisma Sanyan in Sibu, the tallest building in Sarawak and employs over 100 people to manage Wisma Sanyan.
In 2006, Ting filed a winding-up petition against Sanyan Holdings Sdn Bhd in the High Court at Kuching.
In his petition, Ting made numerous personal allegations against the company and its directors.
He alleged that there was an irretrievable breakdown in the relationship between himself and Tufail. He also claimed that he was ousted from the management of the company. For those reasons, Ting wanted to wind-up the company.
If successful, the effect of the winding up order against Sanyan Holdings Sdn Bhd would see the company dissolved and broken up.
On July 26, 2007, after considering the evidence presented by all the parties, the High Court in Kuching dismissed Ting’s petition.
High Court Judge Dr Hamid Sultan Abu Backer disagreed with Ting’s allegations and found that he had in fact voluntarily resigned as managing director of the company.
Furthermore, the Court found that Tufail was magnanimous in allowing him to remain as a director and chairman of the company.
Accordingly, the High Court Judge held that the company should not be wound up as Ting had not been deprived of his directorship and the company was still operating profitably.
Dissatisfied with the decision of the High Court, Ting appealed to the Court of Appeal.
Last Friday (Sept 23), the Court of Appeal at Kuching heard Ting’s appeal.
After reading and hearing the submissions of Counsels for Ting and Sanyan Holdings Sdn Bhd, the three-panel of Court of Appeal ‘s judges, Datuk Sulong Matjeraie, Dato’ Azhar @ Izhar Ma’ah and Dato’ Mohamed Apandi Ali unanimously dismissed Ting’s appeal and ordered him to pay cost of RM50,000.00 to Sanyan Holdings Sdn Bhd.
The Court of Appeal held that the High Court Judge had fully considered all the evidence and that they could not find any plausible reason to disturb or overturn the decision.
Wong Ho Leng and Ting Cheng Ching represented Ting while Sim Hui Chuang, Lim Lip Sze and Wilian Yeo represented Sanyan Holdings Sdn Bhd.
In a statement issued here yesterday, Tufail stated that he was “very disappointed that Dato’ Ting would want to wind up the company for his own personal interests.
“ I am also very surprised that the Member of Parliament of Sibu and the ADUN representative for Bukit Assek, Wong Ho Leng, would agree to take up the case for Dato’ Ting.
“If it had succeeded it would have left all the company’s employees jobless. Therefore, the staff and I am very relieved by the decision of the Court of Appeal,” Tufail added.
Yesterday, the employees and families of Sanyan Holdings Sdn Bhd and Wisma Sanyan Sibu displayed banners written in three languages at Wisma Sanyan expressing their gratitude to Tufail for defending their livelihood.