KUALA LUMPUR (Oct 3): Point-of-sale systems provider Cuscapi Bhd has been served with claims of RM20 million over alleged defamatory statements it made back in 2018.

In a bourse filing, Cuscapi said that it had received a letter accompanied with a writ of summons and statement of claim from Messrs KS Chew & Associates on Monday.

The writ of summons and statement of claim named Cuscapi as the first defendant and former principal officer as the second defendant while the plaintiff in the suit refers to Cuscapi’s former chief executive officer (CEO) Her Chor Siong.

“The plaintiff claimed that the defendants [Cuscapi] had published defamatory statements via the letters of complaint dated Sept 24, 2018 to third parties.

“The plaintiff further alleged that the defendants had published and repeated the alleged defamatory statements in the company’s defence and counter claim in the Kuala Lumpur High Court suit, company’s announcement dated Oct 29, 2018 on Bursa Malaysia and reports lodged with the authorities,” it said.

The company announcement relates to a counter claim suit filed by Cuscapi against Her, who was then the company’s CEO, and Hitachi Systems Digital Services (Singapore) Pte Ltd, for allegedly engaging in a scheme to defraud and cause losses to the group.  

The counter claim also named Hitachi System’s CEO Ong Chin Hu, who was a shareholder of Cuscapi at that point in time.

Among the claims made by Cuscapi against the three parties included Her, Ong and Hitachi Systems scheming to defraud Cuscapi, as well as “secret profits” made by the parties arising from arrangements entered into with Hitachi Systems.

The company also accused Her of breaching his fiduciary duties towards the Cuscapi group of companies.

In his lawsuit, Her is seeking damages amounting to RM20 million, including a 5% interest from the date of judgement until the date of realisation.

Besides the monetary claim, he is also seeking a public apology and retraction of the letters, Bursa announcement as well as reports lodged with authorities via news portals of the plaintiff’s choice.

Her is also seeking for Cuscapi to not repeat the alleged defamatory words in any form.

Cuscapi said that it is seeking the necessary legal advice from its solicitors to defend itself.

“The board is of the view that save for the above-mentioned potential liability, the dispute is not expected to have any material financial and operational impact on Cuscapi Group,” it said.

The group assured that it will continue to take all necessary actions and pursue all available remedies to defend and protect its position.

Cuscapi added that it will make further announcements if there is material development on this matter where necessary.

Cuscapi’s share price closed unchanged at 19 sen on Tuesday for a market capitalisation of RM179.53 million.

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