PETALING JAYA: A legal firm, which once appeared for One City Development Sdn Bhd in obtaining a consent order over the status of the Seafield Sri Maha Mariamman temple, said today it no longer represented the company.
In a statement, Messrs Thomas Philip said the developer had since discharged them from acting for them.
“We were solicitors on record for One City Development Sdn Bhd in relation to the Shah Alam High Court civil suit which was resolved by way of the consent order on March 11, 2014,” it said.
The statement said on Dec 30, 2015, a new firm of solicitors was instructed by One City Development Sdn Bhd to take over all matters arising from the order.
The clarification came amid the announcement early today by Home Minister Muhyiddin Yassin that police discovered that a lawyer for One City Development, which was to take back its land following the order, had paid guards RM150,000 to “take control” of the situation at the temple on Monday.
Describing the move as an “illegal and irresponsible act of intrusion”, he said this had provoked the Hindus in the area, leading to chaos and destruction of property.
Today, however, One City issued a statement denying it had any links to the troublemakers.
On Monday, a group intruded into the temple, causing violence in which several people were injured. The temple was also damaged while a number of vehicles were torched.
Early Tuesday morning, 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.
This morning, a group of rowdy youths gathered opposite the temple despite a strong police presence. Police arrested several of them when they refused to disperse.
The temple is supposed to be relocated as part of a win-win court solution involving the developer 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.
Two lawyers representing the developer are among 21 individuals detained by police to assist in investigations linked to the incident.
Meanwhile, the Malaysian Bar said it condemned the involvement of any lawyer in unlawful actions as this would amount to gross professional misconduct and a serious breach of professional ethics.
“If there is evidence of any professional misconduct, the Bar Council will immediately lodge a complaint with the Advocates and Solicitors Disciplinary Board and prosecute the complaint to the fullest extent,” its president George Varughese said in a statement.
He said the council was prepared to assist authorities investigating the matter. --FMT
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