THE mother-in-law of former Carrian boss George Tan and three other women yesterday lost their action to sever a massive civil case against them and former directors of Bumiputra Malaysia Finance Ltd (BMFL).
The Court of Appeal held yesterday that they were satisfied that Mr Justice Mortimer in March had correctly joined 10 actions together at the request of the plaintiffs, Bank Bumiputra Malaysia Berhad (BBMB, formerly BMFL).
The case concerns hundreds of millions of dollars in loans by BMFL to Carrian which have never been repaid.
John McNamara, for Leong Lai Peng, Tan's mother-in-law, former Carrian director Carrie Woo, and her two sisters, Cecilia Woo and Lily Leung, had argued that many of the claims against the three ex-BMFL directors were nothing to do with his clients.
The action against the women relates to events surrounding a US$40 million (HK$309 million) package advanced by BMFL as part of a rescue operation for Carrian. Tan gave a personal guarantee for the advance, which was never repaid.
It is alleged the money was transferred to Switzerland and laundered through several private Swiss bank accounts in the names of Ms Leong and the Woo sisters.
