Ghafar's ex-wife loses appeal
Published on: Thursday, March 09, 2017
Putra Jaya: The Court of Appeal has dismissed an appeal by the late Tun Ghafar Baba's ex-wife in her alleged breach of contract lawsuit over a piece of land in Jelebu, Negri Sembilan.The decision was delivered by a three-man panel of the appellate court comprising justices Datuk Rohana Yusuf, Datuk Vernon Ong Lam Kiat and Datuk Hasnah Mohammed Hashim.In a unanimous decision Wednesday, Rohana who chaired the panel said the court did not find any appealable error in the High Court judge's grounds of judgment warranting the appellate court's intervention.
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"We agree with the High Court judge's findings and affirmed the same," she said, in dismissing the appeal with costs of RM10,000 to be paid by D. Heryati Abdul Rahim.Heryati, 55, was appealing against last April 26 decision of a High Court in Kuala Lumpur in dismissing her lawsuit against developer Tan Sri Lau Ban Tin and wife, Puan Sri Mary Lee Siew Cheng for alleged breach of contract to get back the land, which she claimed was worth RM1 million.The High Court judge, Datuk Hue Siew Keng had ruled that Heryati's lawsuit was filed out of time, which should have been filed within six years from the time the contract was allegedly breached in 2005, instead of filing it in 2015.In her suit filed on Feb 5, 2015, Heryati alleged it was the couple's failure to transfer ownership of eight hectares of land in Jelebu to her, based on an agreement made on June 20, 2000.
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She claimed that at the time, she was still the wife of the former deputy prime minister and co-owned shares with him in the company, Zamrudvest Sdn Bhd, which operated a franchise under 'EON Dealers and Franchise'.She said around the year 2000, she and Ghafar decided to sell the business to the couple for RM300,000.
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Heryati alleged the transaction did not include sale of the land in Jelebu (owned by the company), and that ownership should have been transferred to her as soon as the individual grant was issued.She contended that based on the official land office records, the land was transferred to Lau on Feb 19, 2004, and on April 16, 2013, to Tengku Ramli Tengku Mohd Kamil.In their affidavit dated April 20, 2015, the couple said Heryati had no legal right to initiate the claim as it was time barred.Stay up-to-date by following Daily Express’s Telegram channel.
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