KOTA BARU, April 24 — The Kuala Lumpur High Court has postponed the proceedings to withdraw the Kelantan PAS’ government suit against Petronas and the Federal Government over petroleum royalty to May 17.

Kelantan Mentri Besar Datuk Ahmad Yakob said the proceedings last Wednesday had to be postponed because there was no representative from Petronas and the Federal Government.

He said the state government was still waiting for a decision as the matter could only be decided in court.

"The withdrawal of the suit is still mentioned in court. The absence of the representative from Petronas and the Federal Government has caused the proceedings to be postponed to a new date, May 17.

"There was no decision recently on it. A representative from Petronas and the Federal Government must be present for us to present it (the withdrawal of the suit),” he told reporters after launching the1440H/2019M Al-Quran Al Karim Convention, International-level, here last night.

Ahmad said the coming proceedings will be during the month of Ramadan and hoped all parties will be present.

The state government’s withdrawal of a legal suit against Petronas and the Federal Government at the Kuala Lumpur High Court will only be allowed if Petronas agrees with it.

It is understood that previously, Petronas did not agree with the withdrawal because it did not want the state to sue it over the same issue in the future.

However, the Kelantan government has given the assurance that it would not do so if Petronas and the Federal government paid the petroleum royalty to it.

It was previously reported that the Federal Government would pay the petroleum royalty to Kelantan after the process of withdrawing the suit by the state government is completed in April.

Economic Affairs Minister Datuk Seri Mohamed Azmin Ali was reported to have said that the petroleum royalty would be paid directly to the state but the Federal Government has not done so as the legal process has not been settled in court. — Bernama