30 June 2023: Cambodia Courts find GL Group not liable for any damages to JTA, GLH Director found to have not committed fraud or any crime in Cambodia

Mr. Tatsuya Konoshita, Deputy Chief Executive Officer of Group Lease Public Company Limited, said “We received some excellent news in Cambodia that Civil Case no. 1657 has been struck out by the Phnom Penh Appeal Court. This is the highest court in Cambodia that can provide a summary judgement. Civil Case no. 1657 is a case where in November 2019, J trust Asia Pte Ltd. (“JTA”) originally claimed $229 million in damages from GL Finance Plc (“GLF” our Cambodian subsidiary) and Group Lease Holdings Ltd Plc (“GLH” our Singaporean subsidiary). JTA later reduced this amount to $154 million in damages, but the Court of Appeals unanimously struck out this case and this case has been completely dismissed. The litigation costs at the Phnom Penh Appeal Court shall be paid by JTA. Our next step is to win compensation for loss which had been caused by JT Group. Since there is no longer any case against either in Cambodia, we have gotten new grounds for asking for more compensation than before. The court ruled that GLF has no legal obligations nor any legal connectivity as a debtor to JTA and that any legal case against GLH did not have jurisdiction in Cambodia. It is now obvious that the claims by JT Group and the Management have no reasonable grounds. They just started such litigations in many countries even without any lawful argument. We had stated many times and now everyone can see how malicious JT Groups and its Management are. They started and still continue unreasonable lawsuits as they believe such are beneficial for them without caring if the lawsuit is valid or not.

We have said many times that JTA files lawsuits against our companies in multiple different countries even though Thailand is the only country where all litigation should take place. JTA uses other countries courts to try to harm GL and abuse the legal process when JTA cannot win in Thailand. This strike out shows that there was a lack of legal basis, lack of evidence, and JTA’s actions against the GL Group in Cambodia were based on frivolous claims. While we are happy for this win, we are even more happy to use this strike out as evidence JTA continues an unfounded international legal assault against GL and we will make JTA pay us and our shareholders for the damage they have caused our group.”

Mr. Riki Ishigami, Chief Executive Officer of Group Lease Public Company Limited, stated, “we pleased that JTA’s claim against GL Group in Cambodia was thrown out of Court. Also we are further pleased that GLH Director Mitsuji Konoshita, who was also being sued by JTA in Cambodia, JTA claimed that Mitsuji committed fraud, however the Phnom Penh Court of 1^st Instance, the Phnom Penh Appeal Court, and finally on 10 May 2023, the Supreme Court of Cambodia all agreed that Mitsuji never committed fraud or any other crime in Cambodia. It is great news that current GLH Director and former GL CEO has been found not guilty of any crime at every court level in Cambodia all the way up to the Supreme Court. This is strong evidence that when courts hear our side of the story, the courts realize no fraud and no crime was committed. We are excitedly waiting for the judgement of the Thai trial expected in early 2024 to show our Thai shareholders and regulators that GL and Mitsuji did nothing wrong.  We will continue to use our legal victories to make JT Group and its Management pay us for damages.”