Yes, please sue

Yes, please sue. And please show us how the Minister of the Federal Territory computed these losses of RM100 million to RM200 million. And show us your tax records for the last three years to prove that these amounts are legitimate and not bullshit figures.

NO HOLDS BARRED

Raja Petra Kamarudin

So who's liable for the RM100 million?
Rocky’s Bru

A question for Lawyers. Before anyone attempts to answer the Q, know the background: Raja Nong Chik told a press conference yesterday that the City could have lost RM100 m - RM200 m as a result of Saturday's anti-ISA demo.

The FT Minister's estimate is bound to raise eyebrows and draw scoffs. But what if it's true?

Can anyone then be held responsible/accountable for the losses and damages?

In this age of transparency and good governance, shouldn't someone claim responsibility?

A lawyer friend of a friend of a friend said the Gerak Mansuh ISA, as the organiser of the demo, is liable. Meaning, I was told, that those who claim to have suffered losses and damages (which may include Sogo and Semua House, which had to close for business on that day; traders and hawkers; the LRT and bus operators; restaurants, etc) could actually sue the NGO.

Really?

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Rocky has touched on a very important and relevant issue. As what he asked:

Can anyone then be held responsible/accountable for the losses and damages?

In this age of transparency and good governance, shouldn't someone claim responsibility?

I hope to see the owners of businesses who suffered losses launch legal action against the people behind Saturday’s march. The organisers are not that difficult to identify because they are not ‘underground’. In fact, they are very open and have many times held press conference, made statements, and issued press releases. So it is well documented as to who these people are.

Once the lawyers launch a civil suit on behalf of all the business owners, then the case can be rushed through the courts and the courts can come out with its quick decision and start assessing the damages the organisers will have to pay the business owners.

Of course, in their statement of claim, they will have to include all their statement of accounts to prove what their losses are. They will have to convince the court that on a normal Saturday afternoon they would be assured of a certain sales figure. And the profit on these sales would also have to be shown.

In other words, they would have to prove their losses by way of accounts and documentation. They cannot just claim they lost between RM100 million to RM200 million. They would have to prove this amount. And it can only be proven through historical records, meaning their accounts.

What profit do they normally make on their sales? For sake of argument, say it is 10%. This means they would need to sell RM1 billion to RM2 billion to make RM100 million to RM200 million.

A good way to prove these losses would be to show the court their tax payments for the last three years or so. The businesses that suffered losses would have to show what their declared sales figures were for the last three years or so according to the tax records submitted to the tax department. This would help prove that on one afternoon of two to three hours their sales were RM1 billion to RM2 billion.

In a full day that would be RM2 billion to RM4 billion -- since half a day it is RM1 billion to RM2 billion. Over a year that would come to RM700 billion to RM1,400 billion.

Okay, let’s round it off and take the average of the two. Based on the losses these business suffered on one Saturday afternoon of about two to three hours, their annual sales would have come to approximately RM1,000 billion.

Petronas earns only RM40 billion a year. Half of that is from Terengganu -- RM20 billion. Terengganu gets 5% of that RM20 billion or about RM1 billion a year in the form of royalty. It used to be only RM800 million but since the price of petroleum increased the royalty also increased to RM1 billion a year.

I don’t know whether this is correct because Petronas does not need to show us its accounts. But simple arithmetic tells us that if 5% translates to RM1 billion and if Terengganu produces 50% of the oil and gas, then it would have to be RM1 billion multiplied by 20 multiplied by 2. That comes to RM40 billion.

The largest income earner in this country earns RM40 billion a year. A few shops along one street in Kuala Lumpur earn RM1,000 billion a year. Hey, how not to earn RM1,000 billion if two to three hours of business comes to RM1 billion to RM2 billion? And how not to earn RM1 billion to RM2 billion in just two to three hours if you lose RM100 million to RM200 million in that same period?

Yes, please sue. And please show us how the Minister of the Federal Territory computed these losses of RM100 million to RM200 million. And show us your tax records for the last three years to prove that these amounts are legitimate and not bullshit figures.

I just hope your tax records tally with what you claim or else the tax people are going to grab you by the balls and squeeze hard. The penalty for tax evasion is ten times what you evaded. That is going to come to tens of billions in penalties.

See you in court, soon, I hope.