Court strikes out Puncak Niaga's RM14 billion lawsuit

PETALING JAYA: Selangor Mentri Besar Datuk Seri Mohamed Azmin Ali, his predecessor Tan Sri Abdul Khalid Ibrahim and the Selangor state government today secured a major victory against Puncak Niaga Bhd’s RM14 billion claim in relation to the takeover of water assets in the state.
The Shah Alam High Court allowed the trio’s application and struck out the claim with costs, according to Puncak Niaga’s filing with the stock exchange.
However, Puncak Niaga said it will file an appeal with the Court of Appeal against this decision.
As for the counterclaim filed by Azmin, the judge directed the parties to file and exchange submissions with a date for delivery of decision on March 13.
In November, Puncak Niaga filed a RM14 billion lawsuit against the trio for alleged abuse of power by threatening to cause, or attempting to cause, the federal government to invoke the use of the Water Services Industry Act 2006 to force a takeover of the state’s water industry. 
About a month later, Azmin filed a counterclaim against Puncak Niaga’s lawsuit, calling it an abuse of process.
On Bursa Malaysia today, Puncak Niaga was unchanged at 60.5 sen with 102,900 shares traded.