I didn’t know assets worth of Goh Tong’s daughter when drafting will, says lawyer

 

Low Beng Choo also says her relationship with the late Lim Siew Kim was purely professional.

Sisters Chan T’Shiao Li and Kimberly Chan are challenging their late mother’s capacity to execute her will and alleging suspicious circumstances surrounding its preparation.

PETALING JAYA:

 A lawyer for the late Lim Siew Kim, daughter of Genting founder Lim Goh Tong, told the Kuala Lumpur High Court today she prepared her third and final will on April 28, 2022 without full knowledge of her assets and liabilities.

The Dikim Foundation, which was named the main beneficiary of Siew Kim’s estate, is apparently worth more than RM1 billion.

Lawyer Low Beng Choo, who is not a family member and is the sole remaining trustee of the foundation, which received the bulk of the money in the will, said she had known Siew Kim for more than 20 years through her legal practice.

Low, 68, the fourth defendent, said she drafted and witnessed Siew Kim’s wills dated April 11 and 28, 2022, and had also acted as a witness to her earlier will dated Nov 2, 2021.

She said this when questioned by lawyer V Sithambaram, who is representing two of Siew Kim’s daughters, Chan T’Shiao Li and Kimberly Chan, who are challenging their late mother’s capacity to execute the final will and alleging suspicious circumstances surrounding their preparation.

The sisters named four defendants, including Low and their brother Marcus Chan, in their suit filed in 2023.

Asked by Sithambaram whether the Dikim Foundation, as named in the third will, was entitled to about 70% of the estate, Low replied: “I have no knowledge.”

She also affirmed that her relationship with Siew Kim was purely professional, describing it as a solicitor-client relationship.

Low also said she shredded the second will, based on Siew Kim’s instructions.

Sithambaram suggested that the third will, unlike the first, did not contain the names of Dikim Foundation’s trustees, to which Low agreed.

Low also agreed that based solely on the third will, one would not be able to identify the trustees of Dikim Foundation apart from the fact that 70% of the residuary estate was allocated to the foundation.

In her witness statement, Low said that before Siew Kim signed the final will, she placed it in front of her.

“I read through the contents of the April 2022 will to her. As I was reading the contents of the will, the deceased (Siew Kim) was following my reading and also reading the will herself.

“To avoid confusion with the April 2022 will that had already been signed, and based on the deceased’s instructions, I shredded the original 2021 will together with its copies,” she said, adding that she assumed the role of a Dikim Foundation trustee only from June 2, 2022.

Low further said that some time in May 2022, after the execution of the last will by Siew Kim, she eventually agreed to be appointed as a trustee of Dikim Foundation upon Siew Kim’s repeated requests.

“I provided all the requested documents and information, among others, for the approval of the relevant authorities for my appointment as a trustee,” she said.

Siew Kim, the third child of Goh Tong, died from cancer in July 2022, leaving behind three daughters and a son. She was 73.

The hearing before Justice Mahazan Mat Taib continues tomorrow. - FMT