Court throws out 2 suits to remove Han Chiang School’s sole trustee

 

The Penang High Court struck out two lawsuits against Lim Boon Lin and his appointed trustees, holding that two Chinese associations had no legal standing to bring their actions.(Han Chiang pic)

GEORGE TOWN: 

The Penang High Court has thrown out two lawsuits to remove Lim Boon Lin, grandson of the late philanthropist Lim Lean Teng, as the sole trustee of Penang’s Han Chiang School.

Lean Teng was the donor of a 31-acre plot of land for the establishment of the school near Green Lane here under a trust indenture in 1948.

Justice Quay Chew Soon struck out the suits brought by the Penang Teochew Association (PTA) and Penang Han Chiang Associated Chinese Schools Association (PHCACSA) with costs of RM10,000 each.

In his grounds of judgment delivered on July 10, Quay said the associations had no cause of action against Boon Lin, and that the actions were frivolous, vexatious and an abuse of court process.

The judge said the issues canvassed in both suits had already been decided on by the court in a previous action. As such, the suits were caught by the res judicata principle, which holds that a matter already decided on its merits cannot be re-litigated.

The court held that the associations did not have any power under the trust indenture to appoint their own trustees or remove Boon Lin as trustee. As such, the judge said the associations did not have locus standi (legal standing) to bring their suits against Boon Lin and his appointed trustees.

Quay also ruled that there was no requirement in law for Boon Lin to obtain the attorney-general’s consent to his appointment of 10 new trustees since he was a registered trustee and conferred with the power of appointment under the trust document.

The court invalidated PTA’s appointment of 14 new trustees, holding that the trust indenture did not give the association the power to do so.

PTA had brought its suit to remove Boon Lin, 69, and the 10 trustees he appointed on April 30, 2022, and substitute them with 14 of its own appointees.

Meanwhile, PHCACSA’s suit sought to confirm the appointment of the PTA’s 14 trustees.

In April, the Penang High Court, had, on the application of the school’s management body, struck out a suit brought by Boon Lin over plans to expand the school into an education city that includes a university.

In his suit, Boon Lin contended that being the sole trustee of the property on which the school operates, the venture required his approval. He said the land was originally intended to be exclusively for the operation of a primary or secondary Chinese school, not higher education institutions.

Upon assuming control of the school in 1995, former PHCACSA chairman Tan Kok Ping set up a private college using the school’s buildings and facilities.

In February 2019, Tan and current chairman Ooi Soo Hing sued Boon Lin and nine trustees for refusing to sign plans to erect a 

chancellery block

 for the private college. Tan and Ooi sought to remove all of them as trustees.

However, Boon Lin and his appointed trustees successfully struck out the action. - FMT