Bruce Willis sues Petra, Tunku Imran as green venture turns sour

LOS ANGELES, Nov 21 — Hollywood actor Bruce Willis of “Die Hard” fame is suing Malaysia’s Petra Group and Tunku Imran Tuanku Ja’afar over a “green rubber venture”, Bloomberg news reported today.

The actor is demanding the return of US$900,000 (RM3.2 million) of the US$2 million he invested in the venture.

According to court papers filed in federal court in Los Angeles, California, Petra's chief executive Datuk Vinod B. Shekhar and Tunku Imran had induced him to invest in a company that was developing a non-toxic and recyclable rubber.

Willis had a put option, whereby for a specified period time he could get a full refund of his investment, according to the complaint. He exercised the option on March 17, Willis said, according to the Bloomberg report.

Willis said in his filing that he was told former US Vice-President Al Gore and actor Mel Gibson had also invested in the company, Elastomer Technologies Ltd.

"Despite the defendants' obligation to immediately refund Willis' investment in April 2008, the defendants continued to provide different specious excuses for the retaining of Willis' funds," the actor said in the complaint, quoted by the Bloomberg report.

Andrew Murray-Watson, a spokesman for Kuala Lumpur-based Petra, told Bloomberg in the report that Willis was due to be repaid the remaining US$900,000 in the next couple of weeks.

"We're very surprised Mr Willis is taking this action," Murray-Watson said in a phone interview.

According to an earlier Bloomberg report, Green Rubber Global Plc, named then as the Malaysian tyre-recycling group partly owned by actors Gibson and Willis, could sell shares in London by the year-end if the market condition improves.

The report said the company was looking to raise between US$20 million and US$50 million in a pre-IPO fund-raising.

Bloomberg reported that Green Rubber was expanding its existing plant in Kuala Lumpur and planned to lease a facility in China or scout for a partner in the north Asian nation.

It was also reported that the company is set to tie up with US rubber product manufacturer Apachi Mills, which supplies to retailer Wal-Mart Stores Inc.

The company is said to be able to make rubber compound through its recycling process at a cheaper cost than creating new compounds, saving costs and the environment.