KUALA LUMPUR: The family feud between the sons and three grandchildren of Genting Bhd founder, the late Tan Sri Lim Goh Tong, has certainly captured the attention and interest of the corporate community.
In the latest development, the Court of Appeal yesterday ordered the disclosure of the Tee Keong Family Trust deed. This is a discretionary trust set up by Goh Tong in 1990 for his son, the late Datuk Lim Tee Keong, and his family.
“The Court of Appeal has today (yesterday) upheld the High Court’s decision to order that the trustee of the Tee Keong Family Trust, Infoline Sdn Bhd, disclose the trust deed to Benjamin Lim,” said Jeffrey Lee, a lawyer with Messrs Ranjit Singh & Yeoh, the firm representing Benjamin Lim Keong Hoe against Infoline for the disclosure of the trust deed.
Keong Hoe is the son of Tee Keong. His uncle Datuk Lim Chee Wah is a director and shareholder of Infoline.
“The disclosure of the deed has to be done within 14 days from today (yesterday),” added Lee.
The Edge weekly, in its Oct 10-16 edition, reported that Keong Hoe and his sister Marie Lim Seok Leng were removed as “discretionary beneficiaries” of the trust.
According to the report, Keong Hoe found out in August 2014 that he had been removed as a beneficiary of the family trust, from the trustee’s reply to his request for a copy of the trust deed in July 2014 to ascertain his and his children’s rights and entitlements.
He was not informed of the removal and objected to the removal, demanding a copy of the trust deed via an email in October 2014. Not receiving any response, he commenced legal proceedings.
According to the report, Keong Hoe only found out in January last year that his removal as a beneficiary of the family trust was with effect from March 18, 2014, just a month before Tee Keong passed away.
In December 2015, Seok Leng wrote to the trustee to obtain a copy of the trust accounts. With no response from the trustee, she wrote in again, giving a deadline to reply by Jan 18, 2016, five days after her request. The trustee’s silence resulted in Seok Leong commencing legal action, only to discover her removal as a beneficiary of the family trust.
Infoline said that it has no obligation under the discretionary trust to inform Keong Hoe and Seok Leong of their removal as beneficiaries nor to disclose the reasons.
The High Court, during the same month (December 2015), ordered the trustee to provide the discretionary trust deed to the court for review before ruling in favour of Keong Hoe, ordering the trustee to disclose the trust deed to him.
The Court of Appeal — represented by a three-member panel comprising Datuk Rohana Yusuf, Tan Sri Idrus Harun and Datuk Mary Lim Thiam Sun — yesterday upheld the High Court’s ruling. The defendants are entitled to another round of appeal if they apply for leave to appeal at the Federal Court.
The ruling in this matter could set the stage for other legal suits that have been taken against the two uncles, Kok Thay and Chee Wah.
Infoline is the trustee of the Tee Keong Family Trust, while Amaline (M) Sdn Bhd succeeded Goh Tong as the guardian and appointor of the trust upon Goh Tong’s death. Kok Thay, who is the chairman and chief executive of Genting Bhd, is also a director and shareholder of Amaline, who has the power to appoint and dismiss the trustee as well as the right to inform and approve decisions made by the trustees.
Keong Hoe and Seok Leng contend in their suits against Infoline and Chee Wah that the Tee Keong Family Trust was created and established for the benefit of Tee Keong, his family members, including the plaintiffs, as well as his descendants.
The disclosure of the trust deed may allow insight into the details of the trust, and help determine if there has been misuse of power in the removal of Keong Hoe and Seok Leong as beneficiaries of the family trust.