KOTA BARU: The state government hopes that representatives from the federal government and Petronas will attend court proceedings next month to enable the withdrawal of the oil royalties case to proceed.
Menteri Besar Datuk Ahmad Yakob said the absence of representatives previously had resulted in proceedings, which were supposed to be held last Wednesday, being postponed to May 17.
“The judge had to postpone the court proceedings when representatives from the federal government and Petronas did not attend. The withdrawal of the case can only be done in their presence.
“Therefore, the state government really hopes that they will attend the proceedings so that all the matters can be resolved,” he told reporters after officially launching the International-level Quran Convention at Kelantan Trade Centre.
A total of 235 people from seven countries took part in the convention which began on Sunday.
Economic Affairs Minister Datuk Seri Mohamed Azmin Ali was reported to have said Kelantan would receive oil royalties once the withdrawal process of the state government’s lawsuit against the federal government and Petronas had been completed.
He had said the state government had initiated the withdrawal proceedings which were expected to be settled this month.
Azmin had said the federal government would keep its promise by making the payment of oil royalties directly to the state government.
The state government filed a lawsuit against Petronas over oil royalties at the High Court in 2011.