KUALA LUMPUR (Dec 17): Tun S Samy Vellu's mistress Meeriam Rosaline Edward Paul is seeking to intervene in Datuk Seri S Vell Paari's application to have Samy Vellu's mental health determined by the court.
High Court judge Datuk Ahmad Bache then decided that today's hearing for Vell Paari's application to be heard at another date to facilitate Meeriam Rosaline's application to intervene be heard.
Meeriam Rosaline's lawyer RSN Rayer said as far as his client is concerned the former senior minister is mentally fit and healthy.
"For this reason, we had filed an application to intervene last Friday and the sealed copies of the document being given to Vell Paari and Samy Vellu's lawyers yesterday evening," he told reporters.
Meeriam Rosaline, 59, told reporters that she is here to see her "husband" and is fighting for justice.
She had filed a suit against Vell Paari, 57, and Samy Vellu following a stop in the payment of her maintenance fee since last year.
Vell Paari was represented by Datuk David Matthew, who confirmed that a case management date has been fixed on Jan 7.
Samy Vellu was represented by Datuk Prem Kumar.
Rayer explained the reason they wanted to intervene was due to Meeriam Rosaline's pending suit against Vell Paari and Samy Vellu.
Since Vell Paari had filed the application to determine his father's mental health here, Rayer said, "We then decided to intervene in the matter and asked that Vell Paari's application for an inquiry be deferred."
It was previously reported last week that Vell Paari filed an originating summons on Dec 2, wanting the court to conduct an inquiry under Section 52 of the Mental Health Act 2001, to determine the former MIC president and former long-time Works Minister's mental health.
Vell Paari, in his application, wants Penang-based Dr Prem Kumar Chandrasekaran, a consultant neuropsychiatrist and head of Neurobehavioural Medicine at the Penang Adventist Hospital, or other mental health expert to be given medical access to examine his 83-year-old father.
This is for the purpose that a medical report could be prepared on Samy Vellu's mental capacity and his condition pursuant to Section 54 of the Act.
He added that in case Samy Vellu is said to be mentally disordered, then Vell Paari, along with lawyer Datuk C Vijaya Kumar or anyone else the court deemed fit, be appointed to the committee of his estate.
Mistress wants declaration over their 'union'
Meeriam Rosaline, meanwhile, had in August filed a separate originating summons in August this year at the Ipoh High Court to declare that she has been in a quasi-spousal union with the former long-time MIC president and former senior minister since Aug 23, 1981.
Meeriam Rosaline is also seeking unpaid living costs from Samy Vellu and Vell Paari amounting to RM191,107.35, which she claimed was owed to her when it was cut off since July last year.
She also wants a court order for her to be allowed to see the former minister. Following that, she is seeking a one-off payment of RM20 million as her lifetime living costs, besides a monthly stipend of RM25,000.
She is also seeking a declaration that she was cared for and supported by Samy Vellu for almost 40 years, an injunction against Vell Paari or his agents where she was prevented from seeing the former senior minister, and an injunction to prevent Vell Paari from controlling his father's finances resulting in payments to her being stopped.
The woman claimed Samy Vellu had loved her during their 38-year relationship, and they frequently travelled to London, Paris, Germany, Switzerland, the US and Singapore over those years. The couple do not have any children.
Meeriam claimed they had a matrimonial situation where she acted as a wife to Samy Vellu, and on the former minister's instructions, she stopped working at a government hospital in Perak since 1993.
She further claimed that Samy Vellu bought a house for her and in 2005 had built a bungalow for her, and for this reason she is seeking Samy Vellu and his son to release funds for her monthly expenses as was done previously.