Loke responds to Melaka Gateway suit

The licence for the “integrated deep-sea Melaka gateway and cruise terminal jetty”, granted to KAJ Development (KAJD, the developer of the now-cancelled Melaka Gateway venture) by Malaysia’s previous Barisan Nasional government in March last year, was withdrawn via a letter dated October 2018, KAJD said in the application.

KAJD appealed the move through a letter to Malaysian transport minister Anthony Loke in November, but no reply was received.

However, in early April, Mr Loke said that he had not yet received any legal notice from KAJD about the judicial review application.

“We will respond to them once we have received the suit,” he claimed, adding that he had not received it in writing at that stage.

Application in detail

Mr Loke, along with the Malaysian government and Malacca Port Authority, is named in the application, which was filed in March.

KAJD is seeking a declaration that Mr Loke’s decision to reject the appeal, by not responding to the appeal letter by a date in December, is either not in accordance with the law or against his statutory duty — and that the decision to revoke the licence therefore possesses no legal force.

The company is also seeking both a certiorari order to quash the operating license’s withdrawal and a mandamus order to make Mr Loke provide an appeal response within a fortnight from the issuance of the court order.

Additionally, the firm is seeking special damages of $34bn, plus general damages, to be determined by the court.

In early April, a justice directed KAJD’s lawyer to allow time for the minister and the Attorney General’s Chambers to respond.

A date of 24 April has been fixed for a potential hearing of leave.