KUALA LUMPUR (April 24): The trial of the RM1.6 billion inheritance dispute in assets of gaming tycoon Tan Sri Lim Goh Tong’s youngest daughter has been postponed and will resume in June.
Proceedings, which was supposed to continue on Friday, was postponed due to time constraints as the court was engaged with several other cases for the day.
"We appreciate that the court is also tied up with another full trial, where submissions is going on," senior lawyer Datuk V Sithambaram, speaking for all parties, told the court.
"In [view] of time constrains, [and it] being a Friday, I have the consent of all defendants to [come back] on June 8," he added.
Sithambaram added that he would be going to another area of the main will, which would take up some time.
High Court judge Mahazan Mat Taib granted the adjournment, saying that she had two other matters, one she had dispensed with, while another was ongoing.
"Unfortunately, I have two (other) hearings for today. I've completed one and the [other is a case on] continued appeal, not a fresh one. I want to complete it by today," the judge said.
Sithambaram is acting for two daughters of the late Lim Siew Kim — Chan T'Shiao Li, 47, and Kimberly Chan T'Shiao Miin, 44, — who are challenging their late mother's capacity to execute the will and the suspicious circumstances surrounding the making of the will.
They have taken their brother Marcus Chan Jau Chwen, and Datuk Low Beng Choo — the lawyer who drafted two out of three versions of the disputed wills and the final will's trustee and executor, to court.
The sisters claim that they had discovered two other wills — dated Nov 2, 2021, and April 11, 2022 — following their mother's death. A third and final will, which was executed, is dated April 28, 2022.
They claim that the short time span between the second and third will gave rise to the suspicious circumstances.
Their brother, Marcus, was left with properties in Jalan Ampang in Kuala Lumpur, shareholding in Mantap Awana Sdn Bhd, contents of all safe deposit boxes, and 30% of Siew Kim's residual estate.
T'Shiao Li was left with RM900,000, while T'Shiao Miin got RM100,000.
A major chunk of the residual estate (70%) had been bequeathed to Dikim Foundation, so named as an amalgamation of Siew Kim and her late husband Dick Chan Teik Huat’s names.
Dikim, a public company limited by guarantee (CLBG), was founded in 1983, and is said to primarily carry out charity work, but the plaintiffs are contending that it has not done so since 2010.
At present, Low, who drafted and witnessed the signing of the last two wills, is the sole trustee of Dikim Foundation.
Low, who has been on the stand throughout the week, has testified that she had "no knowledge" that the 70% of the residual estate was worth about RM1 billion.
She also testified that it was not for her to disclose that she was the sole trustee of Dikim to Siew Kim's children at the will reading two months after Siew Kim's passing. This, despite being queries posed by Marcus and T'Shiao Miin at the very meeting.
The abovementioned testimony was during Sithambaram's ongoing cross-examination of the witness.