UUM vice-chancellor Nordin Kardi fined RM5,000 after court dismisses appeal

The High Court here today ordered Universiti Utara Malaysia (UUM) Vice-Chancellor Tan Sri Dr Nordin Kardi to pay his RM5,000 fine for contempt of court within two weeks or be jailed for a month.

Judicial Commissioner Datuk Zamani Abdul Rahim made the order after rejecting his application for a stay of execution of the sentence pending appeal to the Court of Appeal.

Zamani fined Nordin RM5,000 or one month’s jail on Feb 3 for not complying with an Alor Star High Court injunction restraining the university from proceeding with a Master of Business Administration (MBA) programme.

Nordin filed an appeal to the Court of Appeal two weeks later and applied for a stay of execution of the sentence. The application was heard last month and decision was deferred to today.

Nordin, who was not present today, and the UUM were represented by counsel K. Valen.

The injunction order was obtained by KIC Management, a company organising the MBA programme with UUM, on July 8 last year.

Its counsel, C.V. Krishnadevan, said the company filed for committal proceedings last October after the UUM failed to comply with the order.

KIC Management managing director Azahar Abdul Rahman said the company obtained the injunction order after the university, through a letter dated May 18 last year, cancelled a joint agreement with it to run the programme starting June 1 last year.

He said that under the agreement signed on Sept 1, 2008, the party wanting to terminate the contract must give six months’ written notice in advance and after the students of the last session had completed their studies. — Bernama