January 12 2005


INDUSTRIAL Concrete Products Bhd (ICP) yesterday dismissed claims by Concrete Engineering Products Bhd (Cepco) that it owed the latter a total sum of RM23 million.

ICP director Lim Yong Keat in a clarification statement to the media on the disputed amount said the company was ordered to pay only RM11.53 million by the Court of Appeal and not the amount announced by Cepco to Bursa Malaysia Bhd on Monday.

He said that on May 21 2002, the company paid a total of RM14.33 million (which includes RM2.8 million interest) to the joint named account of two solicitor firms which acted as stakeholders pending the outcome of ICP's appeal in court.

“As we lost in our appeal, the money was paid to Cepco on December 31 last year,” he said.

He said the amount paid was for value of Cepco’s goods sold by ICP for the period when the company was the manager for Cepco’s pile and pole operations.

“With reference to Cepco’s announcement regarding its material litigations with us, the figures appear to be misleading.

“The amount of RM17.91 million as stated in the announcement has no relation to the figures in the consent judgement recorded by the Kuala Lumpur High Court dated January 26 2002,” he said.

ICP also dismissed claims that the company had earlier paid RM6.3 million to Cepco. It also said the company would not pay the RM1.4 million balance mentioned by Cepco in news reports related to the issue.

“We have already fulfilled our obligation as required under the consent judgement, so there will be no further payment to Cepco,” Lim said.

In a report yesterday, Cepco’s largest shareholder Inch Kenneth Kajang Rubber plc Bhd, said it plans to use the amount won from the judgement for working capital, issuing dividends to shareholders and acquiring new assets to strenghten the company’s position, especially in the pole-making business.