OUR PEOPLE
Consultant

Nik Saghir was one of the founders of the firm and was called to the English Bar in 1964. He joined private practice in 1981 as a partner of the firm after resigning from his post as Executive Director of Legal Affairs of PETRONAS, the Malaysian national petroleum company. He retired from partnership in the firm in 2006 and opted to become Consultant. His areas of specialisation as Consultant are tax laws and legislative drafting. 


He has vast experience in both the public service and the private sector. He began his career as Assistant Collector of Land Revenue and Assistant District Officer in the State of Kelantan. Later, he became a Magistrate in the State of Kedah and soon thereafter, promoted to become Deputy Public Prosecutor in the Attorney General’s Chamber. He then went on to become Senior Federal Counsel, Assistant Parliamentary Draftsman, Legal Adviser to the Income Tax Department and Treasury Solicitor in the Ministry of Finance, Malaysia. 

 

During his service in the Government, he had appeared as counsel in the High Courts and Federal Courts in connection with tax and other litigation cases. He was responsible for the drafting of certain tax legislations including the agreements for the avoidance of double taxation with a number of countries. He was also tasked with the drafting of the Land Speculation Tax Act 1974, which later became the Real Property Gains Tax Act 1976. He was also involved in the negotiations and drafting of loan agreements with the World Bank, the Asian Development Bank, Exim Banks of Japan and U.S.A., O.E.C.F., Yen Credit and several other loans involving State and Federal Governments and Government agencies.


As Executive Director of Legal Affairs of PETRONAS in its formative period, Nik Saghir personally handled PETRONAS first Production Sharing Contracts with ESSO and SHELL and other contracts relating to numerous upstream activities of PETRONAS between 1975 and 1981. In addition, he was involved in the negotiations and drafting of contracts for the manufacture of major equipments and the construction of plants for industrial projects such as the LNG Plant at Bintulu, the ASEAN Urea Plant in Sarawak. 


Nik Saghir also served as Committee Member of The Kuala Lumpur Stock Exchange (Government Appointee) and member of the Advisory Committee of the Malaysian Central Depository from December 1994 to 1996. 

 



Practice Experience


During his partnership with the firm, some of the major works handled by him include:

 

  • Negotiations and drafting of contracts for the manufacture of major equipments and the construction of plants for the Steel Mill in the State of Terengganu for Perwaja Trengganu Sdn Bhd

  • Negotiations and drafting of joint venture agreements between local and foreign companies and had acted for several Japanese companies in the negotiations for takeover of a number of local companies

  • Acted as solicitor for commercial and merchant banks in the negotiation and drafting of syndicated loan agreements in respect of bridging and end-finance facilities and restructuring and acquisitions of certain public companies

  • Acted as Legal Adviser in the privatisation and listing of Malaysian Airline System Berhad, Sports Toto Malaysia Berhad, Telekom Malaysia Berhad and Tenaga Nasional Berhad

  • Acted as Legal Adviser to the feasibility studies for the privatisation/corporatisation of the following:
    • Penang Port Commission
    • JKR Central Quarries
    • Factories and Machinery Department
    • Royal Malaysian Navy Lumut Dockyard
    • Postal Services Department
    • Registry of Companies (now known as Companies Commission of Malaysia)
    • Department of Civil Aviation
    • Department of Broadcasting
    • Preparation of the Malaysian Privatisation Masterplan
    • Water Supply Departments of Johor, Selangor, Penang and Pahang

  • Acted for the Ministry of Education to draft the Universities and University Colleges (Amendment) Act 1996 to enable public universities to enter into partnerships and joint ventures for the purpose of carrying on business activities

  • Acted as legal adviser to The Kuala Lumpur Stock Exchange (KLSE) on several matters including the introduction of Central Depository System (CDS)

  • Acted as Malaysian legal counsel in most of the aircraft acquisitions by Malaysian Airline System Bhd (MAS)

  • Involved as legal consultant to the Government in connection with the negotiations and drafting of computer contracts for the implementation of Generic Office Environment, Telemedicine and Multipurpose Cards


Contact:

Telephone: +603 4043 2888

Fax: +603 4043 8800

Email: niksaghir@nsi.com.my

      

 

 Nik Saghir Mohd Noor

Consultant