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Federal counsel accused of
fraud
05/03/2007 NST By Sharanjit Singh
GEORGE TOWN: A representative of 22 beneficiaries of one of Penang’s biggest
landowners has lodged a police report against a senior federal counsel.
They claim he fraudulently transferred a 2.6-hectare piece of prime land in
Persiaran Gurney, worth some RM40 million, to five trustees who are unknown
to the beneficiaries.
On the same day, through representative Chin Kuet Lee and their counsel, A.
Mahendran and B.K. Kasturi, the beneficiaries submitted an application for
contempt proceedings to be initiated against the counsel to High Court judge
Datuk Ghazali Cha for the manner in which he handled their land case.
The police report was filed by the beneficiaries of the late philanthropist
Cheah Leong Keah at the Pulau Tikus police station on Friday.
In his report, Chin said the senior counsel from Putrajaya had written a
letter on Nov 9, 2006, instructing the Land Office to transfer the land to
five trustees, one of whom was already dead.
He was accused of doing so despite the fact that no such order was made by
High Court judges Tee Ah Sing and Datuk Su Geok Yiam in their judgments on
the case, pertaining to the trusteeship of the land, in 2001 and Sept 18
last year.
Chin claimed that the trustees named were not beneficiaries of the land, and
four were unknown to any of the 22 beneficiaries.
"This is a clear case of abuse of power. We hope the authorities will
investigate this matter and take appropriate action against those
responsible."
Cheah, who died in 1941, had appointed his three sons as trustees of the
land for the construction of a pagoda and Buddhist centre.
But they did not fulfil his wishes and the land has since been managed by
some 22 beneficiaries of Cheah’s estate.
The estate has plantations in Jitra and stretches of land from Persiaran
Gurney to Jalan Kelawei, in Jalan Transfer, parts of Jalan Burmah, Pulau
Tikus, and heritage homes in Lorong Bangkok.
His descendants are renting out 131 residential and commercial properties. |
