KUALA LUMPUR – The high court here has dismissed the applications of MYAirline founder Datuk Allan Goh Hwan Hua and four companies linked to him to strike out a civil suit against them from 15 investors.
High court judge Adlin Abdul Majid ruled that the suit filed by the investors had merits against Goh and companies i-Serve Online Mall Sdn Bhd (ISOM), Bright Moo Venture PLT (BMV), QA Smart Partnership (QAS) and Trillion Cove Holdings (TCH).
The plaintiffs had disclosed reasonable cause of action in their claims against the five defendants, Adlin added.
“Whether (the) defendants had perpetrated fraud against the plaintiffs by not paying the sums alleged by the latter, can only be determined in full trial of this action,” she said in proceedings via Zoom today.
She then fixed nine days, October 14, 15, 21, 22 and 23, and December 16, 17, 18 and 19 for trial.
The 15 investors, aged between 58 and 74, filed a civil suit against the five defendants on July 21 last year, after the four companies failed to pay the monthly redemption value sums and financing returns from the investors’ outlay amounting to RM8 million.
Goh is sued as he is an ISOM shareholder and chief operating officer and director of TCH.
The investors claimed the five defendants failed to make the payment between November 2021 to June 2022, despite having been served with a letter of demand on June 20 last year.
They claimed that ISOM, TCH, BMV and QAS all collectively function as a single economic unit and that Goh is the single controller of all the other defendants.
The plaintiffs also claimed that Goh has had conference calls with the plaintiffs, where he represented and issued statements on the ongoing issues faced by ISOM as well as the impact that it would or would not have with regards to the plaintiffs’ money.
The plaintiffs also noted that the companies stopped making payments to them, around the same time the four companies were raided by Bank Negara Malaysia (BNM) in November 2021.
They also claimed that ISOM and Goh had conspired to perpetrate fraud upon the plaintiffs, with intention to deceive them by refusing to make the agreed payments.
In their suit, the 15 plaintiffs are seeking repayment of the RM8 million subscription price, as well as monthly redemption arrears, and 5% annual interest on any awarded judgement sum.
Lawyer Amanda Sonia Mathew, who represented the plaintiffs in today’s proceedings, informed the court that the plaintiffs will be calling approximately five witnesses to testify in the trial. The plaintiffs will also be making amendments to their claims against the defendants.
The court then ordered for the amended applications to be filed by December 25 this year. The judge also fixed January 24 for case management, via e-Review, for the court to determine the direction on the amendment’s bid as well as to see if there would be a need for additional trial dates.
Goh was represented by David Mathews, while Chetan Jethwani appeared for ISOM and TCH, and Varunnath Viswanathan appeared for BMV and QAS in today’s proceedings. – December 13, 2023