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KUALA LUMPUR: A law firm said that the goodwill on behalf of Zaid Ibrahim & Co (ZICO) belongs to him and not to former Minister Zaid Ibrahim.
The firm said that such goodwill developed through the efforts of all the firm’s partners and that this continued even after Zaid waned since 2008.
He said that for 12 years since then the firm had provided professional services and was not associated in any way with the plaintiff, Zaid.
“The interest and goodwill in the name and style of ‘Zaid Ibrahim & Co’ is not owned or related in any way to the plaintiff,” he said in his defense filed today through the law firm Tommy Thomas.
He said the firm’s partnership was not dissolved either by the sale of Zaid’s remaining equity in the firm pursuant to an agreement in 2008 or when he was fired as a partner on November 9 last month.
The firm said it did not violate Section 85 (2) of the Legal Profession Act either.
He said that the ruling and the dissolution of the association were governed, among others, by the association agreement that was binding on Zaid.
Last month, the former minister, who briefly served under Prime Minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi, filed a lawsuit to prevent his former law firm from using the name ZICO.
He said he intended to return to private practice, but found that he could not use his personal name to establish a new firm.
Zaid founded ZICO here in 1987 and was the sole owner.
From 1987 to 2008, he said, he built a name for ZICO, “particularly in obtaining empanel with financial institutions and government-linked corporations.”
“I gradually expanded the practice with salaried partners who joined the firm from time to time, including Chew Seng Kok (Managing Director) and Nik Norzrul Thani Nik Hassan Thani (President).
“I kept the exclusive capital until 2008, when I joined the Cabinet,” he said in his claim statement.
Zaid said he wrote to Chew and Nik Norzrul in 2018 asking them to stop using the ZICO name and return it to him so he could start his own company, but they refused.
However, Zaid said that on October 5, the partners resolved the name issue with him, inviting him to return to ZICO as equity partner and president.
More than a week after his return, he said, his position at the law firm was terminated for “unauthorized acts,” but details were not specified.
“The alleged termination as president and equity partner was unlawful and I reserve the right to seek appropriate reparations,” he said.
He is seeking a court order against his former partners not to use the ZICO name pending the resolution of the lawsuit.
In 2004, the defendant said that Zaid sold 570 of 1,500 units of shares for an amount of RM10.1 million to nine attorneys at the firm who became equity partners.
The defendants also said that Zaid was forced to sign a 2008 sales agreement with Chew and Nik Norzrul to dispose of his remaining 930 units for RM 25.65 million when he became minister.
Under the agreement, it was agreed that the purchase price would be paid in installments until 2029.
“As such, the plaintiff no longer had an interest in the company and the ZICO name,” he said.
The defendant said that from 2008 to September 2020, Zaid never claimed any interest in the equity, the goodwill name or any part of the company’s business.
