Logistics tycoon G Gnanalingam, two former ministers and 20 others will remain as third party defendants in Port Klang Authority's (PKA) breach of fiduciary duty suit against its former general manager OC Phang over the Port Klang Free Zone project until the High Court trial concludes.

This comes after the Federal Court today denied the 23 former PKA board members, leave to challenge their inclusion as third party defendants by Phang.

The Court of Appeal had earlier decided that all the 23 would remain as defendants in the PKA breach of fiduciary duty suit.

The three-member Federal Court bench, led by Chief Judge of Malaya Ahmad Ma'arop, refused to grant leave after they ruled that the submission by counsel J Doshi, who represented all 23 of them, did not pass the threshold under Section 96 of the Courts of Judicature Act.

The other Federal Court judges who made the unanimous decision with Justice Ahmad were Justice Hasan Lah and Justice Abu Samah Nordin...