RAC takes legal action against Chegubard over alleged defamation concerning rail assets

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RAC sues Chegubard over rail asset issue

Highlights

RAC obtains an interim injunction from the Seremban High Court barring Chegubard from spreading claims concerning rail assets and ordering him to remove social media content.
The court set 20 Jan 2027 for an inter partes hearing on the injunction following a defamation suit over Chegubard’s allegations of a national railway asset scandal.
RAC denies that the RSS project is a RM40 billion concession, explaining that the actual value of the 25-year lease is RM4.4 billion and covers 44 locomotives and 246 freight wagons.

This article was translated from the original. Read the original version by our correspondent here.

Interim injunction and details of the case

As reported by The Edge Malaysia, RAC obtained an interim injunction from the Seremban High Court barring Chegubard from making, publishing, distributing or causing the distribution of the statements specified in the order. These include allegations that railway assets were sold as scrap metal and that the RSS was awarded without a proper procurement process or company selection.

Chegubard was also ordered to take immediate steps to remove related videos and other posts uploaded to social media platforms. At Wednesday’s proceedings, lawyers David Mathew and Chong Jen Hui of Messrs Steven Thiru appeared for RAC, while Chegubard’s lawyer, Amirul Ar Rashid Azman, sought more time to file a reply affidavit.

The court then set 20 Jan 2027 for the inter partes hearing of the injunction application. The suit stems from an online post by Chegubard in September alleging that he had uncovered a corruption scandal involving national railway assets under RAC that was, he claimed, “bigger than 1MDB”.

RAC’s explanation of the RSS scope

In its statement, RAC explained that the RSS does not involve the sale of the country’s strategic assets, such as land, tracks, stations or depots. Instead, it is a sale-and-leaseback initiative involving the refurbishment of 44 locomotives—20 operational and 24 out of service—and the supply of 246 new 20-TAL wagons to support freight operations without using government funds.

According to RAC, the project involves 44 locomotives and 246 freight wagons under a 25-year lease arrangement, with Keretapi Tanah Melayu Bhd’s total commitment estimated at RM4.4 billion. RAC rejected claims that the locomotives were sold as scrap metal and said the lease also covers maintenance, comprehensive refurbishment and asset availability guarantees.

RAC also denied claims that the arrangement was a “RM40 billion concession”. The corporation said the total lease commitment is approximately RM4.4 billion over 25 years, including maintenance costs, and that lease payments are handled on a pass-through basis, with no profit to RAC.

Through the lawsuit, RAC is seeking a declaration that the statements were defamatory, as well as an apology, damages and a permanent injunction to prevent them from being repeated.

In our earlier report on the impact of the scandal 1MDB on corporate governance in Malaysia, we discussed how failures in controls, audits and checks and balances continue to fuel debate over who should be held accountable. We also covered board accountability, whistleblower protections and the need for auditors to take a more proactive approach to detecting risks early, particularly in government-linked entities.

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