We were only brought in after temple fracas, say One City lawyers

PETALING JAYA: The two lawyers whose names were linked to the recent violence at the Sri Maha Mariamman temple in Seafield, Subang Jaya, today said they were only roped in by the developer to assist in police investigations after the fracas broke out.

Speaking at a press conference here today, Haniff Khatri Abdulla and Rafique Rashid Ali said they were only approached by representatives of One City Development late Monday evening.

“Our roles are to foresee the process of investigation for the staff and company, and see to their best interests,” Haniff added.

He said the two senior One City employees whom he represented were supposed to have their statements recorded on Tuesday afternoon. However, they were arrested by the police early that morning.

“This prompted me to attend the remand hearing with my colleague, Rafique, on Tuesday,” he said, adding that Rafique was acting for another employee who had been arrested.

Haniff denied claims on social media that he and Rafique had paid 50 “thugs” in an attempt to evict temple devotees, or that he had represented them in the police investigation.

“These are false and malicious accusations against the both of us,” he said, adding that they intended to lodge reports with the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC) to uncover who had spread the information against them.

He said they would file a separate report with the police for criminal defamation.

Haniff urged the public to stop spreading such messages and to let the police complete their investigations into the matter.

“I also urge the authorities not to disclose too much of the investigations to the public, and create more questions for them,” he said.

When asked if the home ministry’s statement on the temple issue yesterday had damaged the company’s reputation, Haniff said One City’s owner, Philippines company Ayala Corporation, had written to the Prime Minister’s Office (PMO) saying it would cooperate with the government.

“The letter was sent directly to the PMO this morning,” he added.

The violence started on Monday when a group of intruders entered the temple, causing a disturbance in which several people were injured. The temple was also damaged while a number of vehicles were torched.

The next day, a protest to oppose the temple’s relocation turned unruly as the crowd set fire to several vehicles. The office of the land developer was also vandalised.

A fireman, Muhammad Adib Mohd Kassim, was assaulted by rioters at the scene. He suffered multiple injuries including broken ribs.

So far, 30 people have been arrested over the temple violence, including One City employees.

The temple was supposed to be relocated as part of a win-win court solution involving One City, the Selangor state government and two claimants to the temple management, K Chellappa and M Nagaraju.

Both Chellappa and Nagaraju, who were involved in a separate suit over the control of the temple management, agreed to hand back the land to One City after it agreed to donate RM1.5 million to build a new temple on one of two plots of land given to the temple by One City.

Chellappa has since been named as the rightful temple manager, but Nagaraju is refusing to abide by the 2014 High Court consent judgment to relocate. -FMT