Kelantan govt withdraws suit on petroleum royalty

KOTA BARU: The Kelantan government has withdrawn its petroleum royalty claim filed at the Kuala Lumpur High Court against Petroliam Nasional Bhd (Petronas) and the Federal Government with immediate effect.

Menteri Besar Datuk Ahmad Yakob, said the decision to withdraw the claim, filed in 2011, was made due to its confidence in Prime Minister Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad’s decision to distribute royalty payment to the state governments as announced in a recent Finance Committee meeting.

“As what has been announced in the (finance committee) meeting, the Federal Government will stop giving ‘wang ehsan’ but instead channel the royalty payments directly to the Kelantan and Terengganu governments.

“Therefore, the state government is confident with the promises and decision made by Dr Mahathir in the meeting and submit an official application to withdraw the claim as soon as possible.

“We (the state government) as a client to (the Attorney-General) Tommy Thomas has already settled all the legal fees,” he said after the state exco meeting here yesterday.

“On the royalty payment schedule, either my deputy Datuk Mohd Amar Nik Abdullah or I will raise the issue during the next meeting with the prime minister.”

NSTP previously reported that the Federal Government had postponed the petroleum royalty payment to the state government pending the court case.

Economy Affairs Deputy Minister Dr Radzi Jidin had said following this, his ministry could not expedite the payment and had to wait for the case to conclude.

The state government is confident with the promises and decision made by Dr Mahathir. DATUK AHMAD YAKOB

Kelantan Menteri Besar