A long wait for justice to be served

Some 217 people swindled of RM80 million worth of land in the 1980s by Ipoh-based lawyer are hoping for a final resolution to their predicament.

PETALING JAYA: Some 217 people are still awaiting justice to be served over 364 acres of agricultural land worth RM80 million which was swindled from them about 20 years ago.

The 217 people had purchased the land in Simpang Empat in Hutan Melintang, Perak, in the early 1980s and reaped handsome profits from the existing oil palm plantations located there.

However, when palm oil prices plummeted in the 1980s, the group mortgaged the land to MBF Holdings. When they could not service the mortgage, the land was put up for auction.

The group then appointed an Ipoh-based criminal lawyer as a trustee to stop the auction. He secured the land in his name and subsequently sold it off to Regal Holdings.

In 1994, the group brought a suit against the lawyer and named MBF Holdings and Regal Holdings as co-defendants.

The Ipoh High Court ruled in favour of the group and ordered the land be returned along with the profits from the palm oil harvest the past 16 years to the 217 landowners.

The lawyer then appealed, and in 2010 the Court of Appeal dismissed his application.

He has now filed a fresh application for a review on the grounds that Court of Appeal Justice Alaudin Mohd Sheriff recused himself mid-way through the case for health reasons.

This case along with the one against Regal Holdings and MBF Holdings will now be heard at the appeals court in Putrajaya on Oct 18.

Speaking to FMT, pro-tem action committee chairman for the group, S Govinthasamy, said: “There are attempts to delay and divert the case. The lawyer cheated a group of poor people who had invested their hard-earned money to own land. Justice has been denied for the past 17 years to the 217 people.”