Former TH Plantations Bhd CEO Zainurin Zain has lodged an unfair dismissal complaint with the industrial relations department.
His lawyer, Marwan Abdullah, said the complaint followed the company’s failure to respond to an appeal letter challenging his dismissal, despite chairman Ahmad Kushairi Din’s assurance that a reply would be given.
“Since TH Plantations has failed to respond to our client’s appeal letter within a reasonable time frame, we are further instructed by our client that he has exhausted the internal process in challenging his termination,” Marwan said in a statement.
He said the complaint was filed under Section 20(1) of the Industrial Relations Act 1967, and a reconciliation session between Zainurin and TH Plantations has been set for Oct 30.
He said Zainurin viewed his termination as not only unlawful and “without just cause and excuse” as defined under the labour law, but also contrary to Islamic principles, given that TH Plantations is a subsidiary of Lembaga Tabung Haji.
“We urge TH Plantations to give their full cooperation during the reconciliation stage at the IRD to settle this matter for the sake of the shareholders, in particular Lembaga Tabung Haji, which serves approximately nine million depositors throughout the nation,” he said.
TH Plantations terminated Zainurin’s contract on Aug 26 over alleged misconduct.
He had earlier been placed on garden leave after receiving a show-cause letter on July 18 regarding RM5.1 million in alleged unauthorised payments involving him and then chief financial officer Marliyana Omar. Marliyana later resigned voluntarily.
Zainurin had been the company’s CEO since October 2021.
