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Valuer: Legal land grab and morality differs
Published on: Thursday, September 29, 2016
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Kota Kinabalu: A valuer-cum-property consultant told the High Court hearing the libel case initiated by former Chief Minister Tan Sri Harris Mohd Salleh said whether a land acquisition is moral or not is subjective so long as "the due process of the law is followed" Robert Morley New, who was touching on the 2,600-acre Zara land in Manggatal which belonged to late Tan Sri Syed Kechik, said there was no judicial review done to question the legality of the Zara land acquisition under the Land Acquisition Ordinance by the Sabah Government.

He said, initially, the Government did not make any offer of compensation for the acquisition despite that being normal in compliance with the requirement under Section 6(1) of the Land Acquisition Ordinance that the authorised officer enter into negotiations without delay.

To protect their right to compensation, Zara Sdn Bhd then filed an Originating Summons in the High Court here for a judge to assess the compensation sum.

New was in the Valuation Section of the Lands and Surveys Department at that time on a three-year contract from August 1975 working under Chan Kok Keng.

The Zara case was then handled by Valuer Frank Phillips and New became involved in the case after he left the civil service.

His colleague then, Ronald Steward-Buck, was under instruction by Zara Sdn Bhd, and upon his retirement, New took over the case to prepare an expert report on the matter of value in accordance with Section 21 of the Land Acquisition Ordinance for the purpose of negotiating an out of court settlement, failing which it would be the basis for his expert evidence in court.

New said that afterwards, the Government's offer of RM14 million compensation as expressed verbally by Chan was too low. The State Government prior to that vide a letter dated June 7, 1977 had offered RM10 million, which Chan Kok Keng said was made on the instruction of Harris.

New said with reference to the court judgment by Justice Tee Ah Sing, the court was evidently of the same view.

"Given that Zara land had area of 2,600 acres, the figure of RM14 million represented only about RM5,500 per acre.

Even at 1975 market values, this was clearly low for land with access on the outskirts of the State Capital with beach frontages, development plan approval and a fully converted land title."

New said he had never come across any other compulsory acquisition by the Government that took four decades to settle.

Hence, the Zara acquisition case to him was truly unusual.

The Judge disallowed the plaintiff's lawyer asking questions on Tan Sri Syed Kechik's income when the 2nd Defendant Syed Salem Albukhary took to the stand for cross-examination as being irrelevant to the defamation trial.

Harris is suing Dr Shaari Isa, the author of the book "Vendetta and Abuse of Power – Quest for Justice in The Land Below the Wind (1st Defendant), Syed Salem Albukhary (2nd Defendant), a brother of the late Tan Sri Syed Kechik and the printer, publisher and distributor – MPH Group of companies (3rd to 5th defendants) for defamation (libel).

His lawyer is asking for damages payment and book ban.

Syed Salem said that the reason he got (1st Defendant Dr Shaari Isa) to write the book was to put things right to show there has been injustice done to his brother Syed Kechik which had affected his (Syed Kechik) life and their family to some extent. He disagreed that he harboured any malice to defame Harris with corruption and abuse of power.

"We merely quoted what was stated in his biography (Harris Salleh of Sabah)," Syed Salem Albukhary said, adding we had never read the book "History of Berjaya".

Asked why the public would be interested in knowing how the Berjaya administration treated Syed Kechik, Syed Salem Albukhary said as time goes by and people become more educated, they would be interested in the history of the affairs of the country.

Meanwhile Paul Rafflaele said in court that it was a lie that he was brought in or incentivised as a defence witness in the defamation case.

He maintained that he was here to defend his book's credibility from being described as gossip and unauthorised.

He said if Harris never said those statements in the trial, he would not have come from Australia, contacted Raymond Szetu after reading the Daily Express online report of the ongoing case.

"My book will be read in a hundred years' time, in libraries by researchers, historians and the public. I lived for months at the Tanjung Aru Beach Hotel and also inside Harris' bungalow eating with his family.

"I was paid and flew first class to go and interview Sir William Goode in England and stayed at a hotel I can't afford on my own," Rafflaele said, asserting many details that his book has could not have been unauthorised.

The plaintiff's lawyer asserted that the book which depends on quotes and details from other books has no proven facts of corruption and abuse of power or any wrongdoing by Harris.

Tan Sri Harris Salleh is suing Dr Shaari Isa, the author of the book 'Vendetta and Abuse of Power – Quest for Justice in The Land Below the Wind' (1st Defendant), Syed Salem Albukhary (2nd Defendant), a brother of the late Tan Sri Syed Kechik and the printer, publisher and distributor – MPH Group of companies (3rd to 5th defendants) for defamation (libel).

His lawyer is asking for damages payment and book ban.





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