KUALA LUMPUR，Jan 19: Former Port Klang Authority general manager Datin Paduka OC Phang, who was ordered to pay RM2.6 billion in damages by the Shah Alam High Court to the authority, has been declared a bankrupt.
The petition notice declaring her a bankrupt was made following a Kuala Lumpur High Court order dated April 11, 2019, that allowed PKA directors to recover the amount of damages that had been assessed.
The notice seeking the court to make the announcement was made by Datuk Yap Pian Hon, who was one of the directors.
This comes after the Shah Alam High Court had in 2018 found her liable for 11 of the 15 breaches listed by PKA in a suit filed against her following the Port Klang Free Zone (PKFZ) cost overruns, according to Malaysiakini.
Justice Datuk M Gunalan, who has since been elevated to the Court of Appeal, had agreed with PKA’s claim that Phang owed her duties to PKA as its general manager and given that it is a statutory body, she could not bypass the board of directors and rely solely on sanctions of the Transport Ministry, Finance Ministry and the Prime Minister to enter into agreements which were binding on PKA.
“It is erroneous for Phang to contend that the Treasury guidelines were not binding or applicable to her or that she had not known of the same. Phang cannot in principle rely solely on the protection of the Transport Ministry for her actions,” he said.
The court ruled that Phang had breached her duties as PKA general manager by entering into agreements without first consulting the PKA board of directors and in disregard of PKA’s dire financial state, but which instead appeared to benefit the interests of a third party.
Phang had tried to bring 23 PKA directors as third party individuals into the claim as part of her defence but failed. Hence, she was ordered by the court to pay RM80,000 in costs, but was not able to come up with the amount.
It is not known where the former general manager is currently, as her last known address is in Bukit Bandaraya, Bangsar.
The civil suit against Phang is the only successful court case brought against those allegedly responsible for the overwhelming costs.
Meanwhile, the Federal Court had last Wednesday dismissed the prosecution’s final appeal to forfeit RM37.8 million from Bintulu member of Parliament Datuk Seri Tiong King Sing, Kuala Dimensi Sdn Bhd (KDSB) and seven others in the PKFZ case.
Besides Tiong and KDSB, the main contractor of the PKFZ project, the prosecution had also named Transshipment Megahub Bhd, Coastal Skyline Sdn Bhd, Wijaya Baru Aviation Sdn Bhd, Wijaya Baru Sdn Bhd, Wijaya Baru Construction Sdn Bhd, Law Ka Hieng and the Selangor State Development Corp (PKNS) as respondents.
