(From fifth left) Tiong, Soon Koh and others at the Sibu High Court.
SIBU: The three shophouse units in Kampung Dato belonging to Twinswood Sdn Bhd are meant for the use of Sarawak United People’s Party (SUPP) Sibu Branch for as long as the latter wishes.
United People’s Party (UPP) president Dato Sri Wong Soon Koh told the High Court this yesterday at the hearing of the ownership dispute between Twinswood and SUPP over the three units.
During the examination-in-chief by counsel Sunny Si, Soon Koh said the late Datuk Patinggi Tan Sri Dr Wong Soon Kai, and perhaps with the help of the late Datuk Robert Lau Hoi Chew, had raised the money to purchase the property.
“The payment was made by cash amounting to RM1 million. The money came from donations by well-wishers, particularly big corporations.
“As far as I know, the three shophouses belong to Twinswood Sdn Bhd and the money was raised by Twinswood Sdn Bhd to purchase the property for the use of SUPP Sibu Branch as long as they wish indefinitely, but the party central did not contribute to that donation and it was the mandate given to me when I executed the transfer of memorandum that the property is going to be used by SUPP.
“But the property remains with Twinswood Sdn Bhd and cannot be transferred to SUPP Headquarters,” he said, adding that the late Dr Wong (Soon Kai) had repeatedly told him this.”
Soon Koh said that was the mandate given to him by Dr Wong and that he (Soon Koh) had a duty to uphold Soon Kai’s wishes.
Soon Koh also told the court that he was not aware of the statutory declaration by the late Soon Kai on April 20, 2015 which stated “it has been always…among the shareholders of Twinswood Sdn Bhd and each of them that the said property was purchased by SUPP through Twinswood Sdn Bhd and therefore the said property is to be held on trust for SUPP by Twinswood Sdn Bhd”.
“Yes, I was totally unaware of the statutory declaration by the late Tan Sri Wong Soon Kai on April 20, 2015. I was totally unaware and I have seen the late Tan Sri Wong Soon Kai’s signature perhaps 100 times and looking at this signature, it is very different by the late Tan Sri Wong Soon Kai,” he said.
Soon Koh, who is Second Finance Minister and Minister of International Trade and E-commerce, also told the court that he did not leave SUPP but was sacked for reasons best known to SUPP. He initially chose to join Parti Tenaga Rakyat Sarawak (Teras) but later set up UPP.
“In fact, I was never given anything in writing when I was sacked. I read in the papers twice that I was sacked. I was only given (a) showcause letter as to why I should not be sacked. I never received (an) official letter that I was sacked; I read in the newspaper that I was sacked by the party,” he reiterated.
On Dec 8, 2016, the Court of Appeal in Kuching unanimously allowed the appeal by Twinswood against the default judgment obtained by three top leaders of SUPP over the ownership of three shophouse units in Kampung Dato.
Twinswood filed the appeal against a decision by Sibu High Court on March 11 last year dismissing the company’s application to set aside a default judgment with cost of RM5,000.
On Aug 24, 2015, the High Court ordered that the three shophouse units in Kampung Dato be transferred to SUPP in a default judgment obtained by the three SUPP leaders.
It was learnt that the property at Kampung Dato, consisting of the three shophouse units titled as lots number 1291, 1292 and 1293, had been registered in the name of Twinswood Sdn Bhd – a private limited company – with 50 shareholders since 1988.
These shareholders were previously SUPP members. SUPP filed a suit to claim the property from Twinswood on June 2, 2015 during their party’s anniversary celebration.
The only other witness who testified yesterday was Dudong assemblyman Datuk Tiong Thai King.
SUPP is represented by Sunny Si, Andin Linton Albert, Tonny Hii and Laura Kong while George Lo and Jonathan Tay represented Twinswood. The case before Judicial Commissioner Dean Wayne Daly continues on Oct 5.