CJ's name abused in land cheating case
Published on: Saturday, August 29, 2015
Kota Kinabalu: A 91-year-old from Kobusak, Penampang testified via a Kadazan court interpreter that he trusted his nephew and handed over his original land title to him when told that the buyer was Tan Sri Richard Malanjum, the present Chief Judge of the High Court of Sabah and Sarawak.Anthony Lojuta was testifying as plaintiff against Clarence Sipain Mojingol, whose name now appears in his land title as the buyer, as well as five others, including the Lands and Surveys Department.In his testimony, the plaintiff said he acquired the land from a lady in 2004 when she could not pay a RM135,000 loan.
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In 2013, he planned to sell the land, which has an existing concrete house, for around RM1.5 million and told his relatives and friends about it, including his nephew Edward John Bruno Lojuta @ Tiwot. In August the same year, Tiwot came telling him (plaintiff) that a Tan Sri wanted to buy the land and asked for the land title to be shown to the buyer.Later in the same month, Tiwot came to the plaintiff's house with a blank white paper to get his thumbprint for the purpose of processing payment into his account.Tiwot only requested for the thumbprint once. The plaintiff, who trusted Tiwot after being told that the Tan Sri whom he knows well was the potential buyer, never signed or placed his thumbprint on any other documents.
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Upon request by Tiwot, the plaintiff gave his Donggongon bank account number as well as the land title to the former with an instruction not to sell for below RM1.5 million and not to give the title to anyone before the full payment is made.Afterwards, Tiwot informed the plaintiff that money had been put into his bank account on Aug 23, 2013. The plaintiff went to check his account but found only RM50,000. When he called Tiwot, he was told that the buyer would pay by instalments.
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When the plaintiff called Tiwot again to ask for the return of the land title and that he wanted to return the money because he disagreed with the instalment payment, Tiwot refused to answer his calls.He then felt he was cheated and went to the Native Court in Penampang to lodge a report. There he met an Assistant Native Chief who helped him to check on the status of his land and was informed that the land title had already been transferred to Clarence Sipain Mojingol.The plaintiff then realised he was really cheated. He made a police report on Aug 24, 2013 and also applied for a caveat on the land on Sept 25, 2013 because there was no agreement to sell the land to Clarence Sipain. He also managed to get a copy of the memorandum of transfer of the land, which stated that the selling price was half a million, but he never got paid that amount. He said he had never signed or put his thumbprint on any memorandum of transfer documents and was shocked as he did not recognise Clarence Sipain and had never agreed to sell the land to him.He told the court that he is able to return the RM50,000 and pleaded the court for the return of his land.The plaintiff also asked the court to declare the transfer of the land to Clarence Sipain as void and to order the Land Office and the ACLR to transfer the land back to him. He also claimed for compensation for all losses incurred due to this including legal cost.During cross-examination by counsel why he did not make a police report against John Bruno, the plaintiff replied that he was his nephew and had treated him as his own.He disagreed strongly with the question that it was not wrong for Clarence Sipain to pay for the land by installments if agreed by his nephew repeating his earlier testimony that only a full payment was what he wanted.The case was heard before Judge Ravinthran Paramaguru. James Ghani & Co appeared for plaintiff while Bulagang and Co appeared for defendants one and four, while a lawyer from the State Attorney appeared for the Government of Sabah. Stay up-to-date by following Daily Express’s Telegram channel.
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