Eight former contract staff of former Selangor menteri besar Abdul Khalid Ibrahim who were being sued for refusing to return about RM2.7 million in compensation money from Menteri Besar Incorporated (MBI) today agreed to refer the case to the mediation centre.

The suggestion to refer the matter to the centre was made by High Court judge Hadhariah Syed Ismail in chambers when the case came up for case management today.

Lawyer Shahir Razak, representing MBI, said both parties agreed to resolve the matter through mediation.

The eight officers are former MBI chief executive officer Faekah Hussin; Rohani Talib; Arfa’eza Abdul Aziz; Mustapha Mohd Talib; Rahimah Kamarudin; Dr Sulaiman Masri; Abdul Halim Mohamed Yusof; and Tuan Nazuri Tuan Ismail.

They are represented by lawyer Edmund Bon Tai Soon.

MBI filed legal proceedings against the eight officers last May 11 after they refused to return the compensation money.

Last Jan 16, Selangor Menteri Besar Mohamed Azmin Ali ordered that they returned the compensation money of between RM114,870 and RM699,000 each which allegedly breached the state government’s financial procedures.

- Bernama