Man loses appeal against forfeiture of house

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KOTA KINABALU: The High Court here yesterday dismissed an appeal made by a man against the forfeiture of his home.

Justice Ravinthran Paramaguru ordered that the house belonging to Wong Huang Ing, 46, be forfeited by the Malaysian government.

This was after Ravi listened to arguments of Wong’s counsel, Mohammed Nor Yusof, and deputy public prosecutor Luke Ressa Balang.

In his ruling, the judge stated that the first claimant in the case, Wong, had not produced any evidence at the Sessions Court.

Wong, who had not been satisfied with the decision of the Sessions Court to allow the house to be forfeited by Public Bank on May 27, last year, had appealed to the High Court.

Drugs had been found in the house, located in Taman Ganang Phase 1, along Jalan Pahlawan, on October 13, in 2013.

The house was seized under Section 25(1) of the Dangerous Drugs (Forfeiture of Property) Act 1988 on November 1, 2013.

Wong claimed ownership of the house but it was also subject to Public Bank Berhad’s ownership claim under a facilities agreement and a deed of assignment dated July 25, 2006 between the appellant and Public Bank Berhad.

The appellant was arrested on October 3, 2013, while the house was seized by the Narcotics Division on December 5, of the same year.

Meanwhile, Public Bank Berhad called in two witnesses. The prosecution led by deputy public prosecutor Afzhan Abd Kahar, called the investigating officer to testify.

In the ruling, the lower court judge held that Public Bank Berhad had proved that they are lawfully entitled to the house.

Wong and Public Bank Berhad, however, had failed to prove the crucial element in the Forfeiture of Property Act (FPA), i.e, the house is not an illegal property.

Hence, the judge ordered that the house be forfeited to the government of Malaysia under Section 32 of the FPA.

Wong and Public Bank had filed an appeal against the findings and order. The bank withdrew the appeal on August 12, last year.