Human Voyage may take legal action against MNFC, Abu Samah

KUALA LUMPUR - The 2022 Le Tour de Langkawi (LTdL) organiser, Human Voyage (M) Sdn Bhd (HVSB), is considering taking legal action against the Malaysian National Cycling Federation (MNCF) and its president Datuk Abu Samah Abd Wahab.

HVSB chief operating officer Shahaizereen A Hamid said they may take action following the statements made by Abu Samah all this time which have tarnished the image of the LTdL organiser.

He said that all the time that HVSB organised the LTdL previously, there were no issues related to debt to any contractor or team, besides the winning prize money had also been settled.

"In fact, HVSB has paid off the debt from the previous organiser and this matter has not been publicised, even until now the MNCF have not helped anything in this regard,” he said in a statement today.

At the same time, he said HVSB understood the situation faced by the Youth and Sports Ministry (KBS) in settling the balance payment to HVSB due to the post-pandemic situation and the time-consuming scrutiny of documents.

"HVSB has kept quiet to honour the agreement between us and the KBS,” he said.

Yesterday, the national sports arena was reeling from the news that the 2023 LTdL, scheduled to be held from Sept 23-30, had been kicked out of the Union Cycliste Internationale (UCI) international calendar.

Abu Samah had previously voiced his concern that the country’s premier tour cycling race may not be held under the UCI calendar next season due to the more than RM1 million the organiser of the previous edition owed to five teams.

Abu Samah was quoted to have said that the arrears not only marred LTdL’s reputation but also affected the interests of foreign teams wanting to compete in the coming editions.

He, however, assured that the MNCF would strive to settle the issue. - BERNAMA