Khalid Ibrahim akan selesai hutang USD18 juta Bank Islam lebih murah The Malaysian Insider

Dalam satu langkah yang mengejutkan, Bank Islam Malaysia yang sebelum ini beria-ia membawa Menteri Besar Selangor Tan Sri Abdul Khalid Ibrahim ke mahkamah kerana hutang USD18 juta (RM66.67 juta) kini bersedia untuk menyelesaikan perkara ini dengan amaun lebih rendah.

The Malaysian Insider difahamkan, Mahkamah Persekutuan mengadakan pendengaran sampingan di antara kedua-dua pihak semalam selepas diberitahu tentang rundingan penyelesaian yang sedang berjalan.

Kemungkinan penyelesaian itu mengejutkan ramai pihak termasuk pemimpin tertinggi PKR dan peguam Abdul Khalid. Salah seorang peguam mengatakan beliau mendengar penyelesaian sedang berjalan.

“Saya ada dengar tentang penyelesaian ini dan sedang cuba dapatkan butiran lanjut,” katanya.

Seorang pemimpin kanan PKR mengesahkan Abdul Khalid memberitahunya perjanjian sedang berjalan untuk hutang ditanggung semasa beliau menjadi ketua pegawai eksekutif Kumpulan Guthrie Bhd bagi pembelian 20% saham syarikat.

Bank Islam Malaysia membawa perkara itu ke mahkamah pada 2007, setahun sebelum Abdul Khalid dinamakan sebagai menteri besar Selangor.

Bank Islam Malaysia dimiliki 100% oleh BIMB Holdings Bhd (BHB), di mana pemegang saham majoritinya merupakan Lembaga Urusan Tabung Haji (LUTH) yang menguasai 54%. Pemegang saham lain adalah Kumpulan Wang Simpanan Pekerja (KWSP), Permodalan Nasional Bhd dan Amanah Saham Bumiputera.

Mahkamah Rayuan memutuskan pada Mac 2010 Abdul Khalid tidak perlu membayar RM66.67 juta kepada Bank Islam selepas mengenepikan rumusan penghakiman bank tersebut terhadapnya kerana gagal menyelesaikan kemudahan pinjaman Islam itu.

Pada 21 Ogos, 2009, Mahkamah Tinggi Kuala Lumpur membenarkan permohonan bank untuk untuk mengemukakan penghakiman terus terhadap Abdul Khalid dan memerintahkannya membayar RM66.67 juta.

Tetapi Hakim Mahkamah Rayuan Datuk Zainun Ali, Datuk Jeffrey Tan Kok Wha dan Datuk Syed Ahmad Helmy Syed Ahmad secara sebulat suara membenarkan rayuan Abdul Khalid dengan kos.

Mereka juga mengembalikan semula kes ini ke Mahkamah Tinggi selepas memutuskan isu dalam kes ini memerlukan perbicaraan penuh.

Semasa mengenepikan penghakiman terus itu, Zainun berkata, mahkamah berpendapat di bawah prinsip perbankan Islam, pendapat daripada pakar undang-undang Islam mengenai peraturan Islam tentang kesahan transaksi, adalah diperlukan.

Terdapat dua saman difailkan berhubung kes itu, satu yang difailkan oleh Abdul Khalid terhadap bank dan yang kedua saman balas bank terhadap menteri besar itu.

Dalam samannya terhadap BIMB, Abdul Khalid menuntut ganti rugi dan pengisytiharan, dengan mendakwa terdapat penjualan yang salah saham-saham dalam Guthrie di bawah kemudahan pinjaman Al-Bai Bithaman Ajil (BBA).

Abdul Khalid, yang ketika itu ketua pegawai eksekutif Guhtrie Berhad, mendakwa wujud kontrak kolateral antara beliau dan BIMB bersampingan dengan perjanjian kemudahan Al-Bai Bithaman Ajil (BBA) bertarikh 30 April, 2001.

Beliau mahu satu perisytiharaan kemudahan BBA itu secara berasingan dan tanpa kontrak kolateral itu adalah batal dan tidak sah dan BIMB melanggar kontrak kolateral dan atau kemudahan BBA.

Dalam saman balas terhadap Abdul Khalid, BIMB mendakwa berlaku pelanggaran perjanjian Al-Bai Bithaman Ajil ekoran kegagalan beliau membayar balik pinjaman. – 13 Februari, 2014.

Khalid to settle US$18 million Bank Islam debt for far less

In a surprising move, Bank Islam Malaysia, which has been doggedly pursuing Selangor Menteri Besar Tan Sri Abdul Khalid Ibrahim in court for a US$18.52 million (RM66.67 million) debt, is now willing to settle for much less.

The Malaysian Insider has learnt that the Federal Court stood down an ancillary hearing between the parties in chambers yesterday after receiving word of ongoing settlement talks.

The possible settlement caught many by surprise, including bigwigs in PKR and lawyers for Khalid. One his lawyers for the matter said he heard of a deal in the works.

"I've heard of a settlement and am trying to get the details," he said.

A senior PKR leader confirmed that Khalid confided in him that a deal was being hammered out for the debt incurred for the then Kumpulan Guthrie Bhd chief executive officer's purchase of 20% of the company's shares.

Bank Islam Malaysia took the matter to court in 2007, a year before Khalid was named Selangor menteri besar. He was then the PKR treasurer.

Bank Islam Malaysia is a 100%-owned unit of BIMB Holdings Bhd (BHB), whose majority shareholder is the national pilgrims’ management fund Lembaga Urusan Tabung Haji (LUTH) with a 54% stake. The other shareholders are the government-linked Employees Provident Fund, Permodalan Nasional Bhd and Amanah Saham Bumiputera.

The Court of Appeal had ruled in March 2010 that Khalid need not pay RM66.67 million to Bank Islam when it set aside the summary judgment obtained by the bank against him for failure to settle an Islamic loan facility.

On August 21, 2009, the Kuala Lumpur High Court granted the bank's application to enter summary judgment against Khalid and ordered him to pay RM66.67 million.

But appeal court judges Datuk Zainun Ali, Datuk Jeffrey Tan Kok Wha and Datuk Syed Ahmad Helmy Syed Ahmad had unanimously allowed Khalid's appeal with costs.

They also sent the case back to the High Court as they ruled that the issues in the case must get a full trial.

In setting aside the summary judgment, Zainun had said the court was of the view that under Islamic banking principles, an opinion from Islamic jurists on the precepts of Islam on the legality of the transaction was required.

There were two suits filed related to the matter, one by Khalid against the bank and the second was the bank's counter-suit against the menteri besar.

Khalid, in his suit, is seeking declaratory relief and general damages, claiming that there was a wrongful sale of his shares under the Al-Bai Bithaman Ajil (BBA) facility.

As the then chief executive officer of Guthrie Bhd, he claimed that there existed a collateral contract between him and the bank with the said loan agreement dated April 30, 2001.

He wanted the court to declare that the BBA facility, in isolation and without the collateral contract, is null and void and that Bank Islam had breached the collateral contract and the BBA facility.

In its counterclaim suit, Bank Islam Malaysia claimed that Khalid had breached its contract in the BBA loan agreement following his failure to repay the loan. – February 13, 2014.