KUALA LUMPUR (July 9): The High Court on Tuesday has allowed an application by law firm Messrs Krish Maniam & Co to place Sarawak Cable Bhd (KL:SCABLE) under an interim judicial manager.

Judge Ahmad Murad Abdul Aziz, who allowed the application filed by the law firm, said, “The court allows an order in terms of the appointment of an interim judicial manager.”

Messrs Krish Maniam was represented by William Ang and Louis Lew Wei Hung.

Last Tuesday (July 2), the law firm filed an originating summons (OS) against Sarawak Cable for it to be placed under judicial management.

This followed the firm having acted for the company in several ongoing legal matters, but suddenly had its services terminated on two matters, namely involving Sarawak Cable’s subsidiaries Universal Cable (M) Bhd and Leader Cable Industry Bhd, where the company had appointed another law firm.

Messrs Krish Maniam had previously helped Sarawak Cable in its scheme of arrangement and in finding a white knight in Serendib Capital Ltd for the company in December 2023, of which a memorandum of agreement (MOA) was formulated where the law firm was engaged with a retaining fee of RM60,000 a month.

However, sometime in May, Sarawak Cable terminated the MOA with Serendib Capital and replaced Messrs Krish Maniam for two of the cases.

As a result, Messrs Krish Maniam had billed six invoices totalling RM345,908 for outstanding legal fees.

The law firm claimed that Sarawak Cable had not paid the sum to date and hence, it filed the OS for the company to be placed under judicial management.

In an affidavit in support to the OS, the executive partner of Messrs Krish Maniam, Datuk Seri S Krishna Kumar, claimed Sarawak Cable’s quarterly report as at Feb 29 this year showed the company suffering losses of RM21.042 million and a cumulative loss of RM69.584 million.

Furthermore, ongoing legal actions by Serendib Capital against Sarawak Cable and its directors cast serious doubt on the ability of the current management to manage the company’s affairs, Krishna Kumar claimed.

Sarawak Cable fell into Practice Note 17 status in September 2022 due to concerns raised by its external auditor about its viability as a going concern, after certain financial institutions suspended the group's credit facilities.