KUALA LUMPUR – Iconic revolving restaurant, Atmosphere 360, based in KL Tower suffered more than RM1 million in losses following the sudden court ordered eviction.
The eviction notice, issued by Commercial High Court yesterday, ordered the restaurant to leave the space before January 4 of next year.
The restaurant’s chief executive officer Datuk Ringo Kaw Fan Chu told Scoop that the loss borne by the restaurant is around RM1 million.
“This estimated amount excludes the labour and raw material costs, as well as compensation paid to our customers and loss of our reputation,” he said when contacted today.
Kaw confirmed that the eviction notice came suddenly, as they had never received any prior notice.
This, he said, has impacted their business flow as the place is already filling in bookings for Christmas and New Year’s dinners.
“(However), we have started the refund process to our customers since yesterday.
“Our staff seems to be severely impacted, especially in terms of their mental and emotional well-being.
“We have a total of 81 staff and we will maintain them, continue to care for them. Their December salary will still be paid.
“We are committed to ensure that our staff’s welfare is prioritised so that they do not feel mistreated,” he said.
It was reported earlier that the restaurant had begun their eviction process since receiving the eviction notice yesterday.
The eviction order was sought by the Menara Kuala Lumpur Sdn Bhd and Hydroshoppe Sdn Bhd against Asian Kitchen (M) Sdn Bhd, who owns Atmosphere 360.
On August 5 this year, a Hydroshoppe director was charged with corruption for bribing Tan Sri Annuar Musa with RM500,000 per year for a 15-year period, for the latter to speed up the approvals of Hydroshoppe to handle KL Tower concessions in return.
Following this, Asian Kitchen then filed a suit against Menara KL and Hydroshoppe where they sought a declaration that the shares and ownership transfer to Hydroshoppe is null and void.
Hydroshoppe then fought back by filing an application to enter a summary judgement against Atmosphere 360, where they sought a declaration that the restaurant’s tenancy agreement with KL Tower had expired on June 30 and wanted for the restaurant to vacate its unit in the tower.
This resulted in the high court’s decision to issue the eviction notice yesterday (December 21). – December 22, 2023