02 September 2022 : Supreme Court Granted GL’s Leave of Final Appeal and Will Hear Our Case; Potential to Win Back THB 685 million judgement

Mr. Tatsuya Konoshita, Deputy Chief Executive Officer of Group Lease Public Company Limited said “It is a good news for GL at all. In general, the Supreme Court rejects the vast majority of applications for leave of final appeal to the Supreme Court. The fact that the Supreme Court reviewed our application for leave of final appeal (along with the final appeal) and decided to grant us the leave of final appeal shows that the Supreme Court believes that there are critical issues that the Supreme Court wants to hear so that they may make a final judgement. The Supreme Court needed to hear our case first if they wanted to reverse the Appeal Court’s decision, so we are optimistic about our chances given that if they felt JTA’s arguments were correct, the Supreme Court could have just rejected our leave of final appeal and made the issue final that way.

On March 5, 2020, the Civil Court in Thailand ruled that that JTA acted in bad faith by filing the false rehabilitation petition against Group Lease in Thailand. The Court also ruled that JTA’s actions caused damages and ordered JTA to pay THB 685 million, including lawyer fees, to GL. After that judgement, JTA appealed and the Appeal Court ruled in their favor and concluded that JTA no longer needed to pay GL. We agreed with the Court of First Instance’s judgement and therefore GL applied for leave of final appeal to the Supreme Court for a final decision.

We are proud to share that the Supreme Court has granted us our leave of final appeal and will hear our case. This is a good chance for GL to get compensation from JTA for the damages which JTA had unlawfully caused from its world-wide litigation. Additionally, this Supreme Court order would give good influence on other ongoing litigations, including the second civil case that GL filed against JTA et al for compensation in the amount of THB 9,130 million and a criminal case against JTA and the directors which GL had initiated and has been working on now”

Mr. Riki Ishigami, Chief Executive Officer of Group Lease Public Company Limited, commented “Originally, GL took civil action against JTA due to JTA’s unjustified attempt to force GL into rehabilitation, even though it is so clear GL does not meet the standards for rehabilitation. On August 15, 2019, the Central Bankruptcy Court dismissed the JTA submitted rehabilitation petition against GL for the second time. The court looked at three factors when deciding to dismiss the case:

1. The amount of GL debt owed to JTA
2. The amount of GL’s assets compared to GL’s liabilities
3. The ability of GL to operate the business

Upon looking at those three factors, the court ruled that the amount that JTA claimed that GL owes JTA is unclear due JTA’s legal actions, GL has assets exceeding its liabilities and therefore is not insolvent, and finally that GL was able to operate the business as usual and therefore dismissed JTA’s petition.

We are pleased the Supreme Court has granted us our leave of final appeal and will hear our case. We appreciate all of our shareholders’ patience during this time and we will continue to fight for our shareholders.”