SUPP members celebrate their victory after the Sibu High Court ruling.
SIBU: The High Court here yesterday ruled in favour of Sarawak United People’s Party (SUPP) in the fight with Twinswood Sdn Bhd over ownership of three shophouses in Kampung Datu.
The properties house five SUPP branches, namely Bukit Assek, Bawang Assan, Dudong, Pelawan and Nangka.
In his ruling, Judicial Commissioner Dean Wayne Daly said SUPP (the plaintiffs) had proven their case on the balance of probabilities.
He said the properties belonged beneficially to SUPP and that they are held on resulting trust by Twinswood for SUPP absolutely.
He said he was with the plaintiff’s submission that SUPP had paid the purchase price for the properties as there was no evidence that the payment to the defendant was a gift.
“I found that the said properties belong to SUPP and are held on resulting trust by the defendant for SUPP, absolutely. This issue is answered in the affirmative,” he said.
He also said Twinswood did not have evidence of a landlord and tenant relationship between Twinswood and SUPP in respect of those properties.
Therefore, it followed that SUPP was not in unlawful occupation of the properties.
Dean therefore ordered the properties to be transferred into the name of SUPP and for the original Lease of State Land or land title and quit rent booklet of the properties to be delivered to SUPP.
Twinswood will also pay RM100,000 in legal cost to SUPP.
He also dismissed all counterclaims by Twinswood.
SUPP Bukit Assek chairman Chieng Buong Toon, Bawang Assan chairman Robert Lau Hui Yew, Pelawan chairman Clarence Ting and about 20 SUPP members from the five branches were also present in court, as were several members from Twinswood.
SUPP was represented by counsel Sunny Si, Andin Linton Albert, Tonny Hii and Laura Kong while Twinswood was represented by George Lo and Jonathan Tay.
Speaking to reporters after the ruling later, Robert Lau said the decision served justice to the party members especially the older members who had contributed and sacrificed for the party.
“We are doing this for those in the past who had helped the party. We are a new group of leaders. Even though I did not donate, we are doing this for the party. This is a good decision for us in Sibu,” he said.
He said the court’s decision had been something that SUPP members had been looking forward to since 2014 when the party here (Sibu) split.
The Court of Appeal in Kuching on Dec 8, 2016, unanimously allowed the appeal by Twinswood Sdn Bhd against the default judgment obtained by three top leaders of SUPP over the ownership of three shop house units at Kampung Datu, and ordered the case to go on trial at the Sibu High Court.
Twinswood filed the appeal against a Sibu High Court’s decision on March 1, last year, when it dismissed 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 shop house units at Kampung Datu Road be transferred to SUPP in a default judgment obtained by the three SUPP leaders.
It is learned that the properties at Kampung Datu consisting of three shop house units titled as lots number 1291, 1292 and 1293 had been registered in the name of a private limited company (Twinswood Sdn Bhd) 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 the party’s anniversary celebration.