Oil palm smallholder lodges complaint against lawyer
KOTA KINABALU: An oil palm smallholder from Lahad Datu has lodged a malpractice complaint with the Sabah Legal Society (SLS) against a woman lawyer based here .
Leksun Injil said he was among the 819 Bagahak Smallholders Scheme settlers who were allegedly cheated by the woman lawyer.
“I went to the SLS to lodge a complaint for action to be taken against her. I do not want more people to be cheated by her,” said Leksun, who together with his wife, Juinah Kasdi, came to Kota Kinabalu to lodge the complaint at the SLS office here on Monday.
He said he was subsequently informed by an SLS officer to attend a hearing on his complaint at the SLS office here on May 14.
“The legal fraternity must be made aware of what this lawyer has done and take the necessary action against her,” Leksun added.
On September 30, 2014, the High Court ordered three people, including the lawyer, to pay damages to Borneo Samudra Sdn Bhd (BSSB) for inducing the Bagahak smallholders to breach their joint venture agreement with the state-owned firm.
Justice Chew Soo Ho, in his ruling, said that BSSB had proved in law on the inducement of breach of contract. BSSB had claimed damages exceeding RM557 million.
The judge in allowing BSSB’s claim had also granted a declaration that the smallholders were relieved from all and every liability under the respective sale and purchase agreements purportedly entered into with one of the three defendants.
In the suit, BSSB, a subsidiary of the state owned Sawit Kinabalu Sdn Bhd, alleged that the trio had unlawfully induced the 819 smallholders to breach the joint venture agreement involving a land area of some 12,000 acres.
The company had also alleged that the woman lawyer was the advocate and solicitor and, in preparing the alleged sale and purchase agreements, had conspired with the two other defendants, one of whom was her staff.
The court also found that the various sales and purchase agreements purportedly signed by the smallholders between 2006 and 2007 were prepared by the woman lawyer based on her unilateral legal opinion that the joint venture agreement had allegedly been breached or terminated and that the smallholders were entitled to sell their respective lots.
In his ruling, Justice Chew held that the woman lawyer’s role in the scheme was not merely to give advice to the smallholders but had taken active steps to get the smallholders to sell their lots to her employee, knowing full well that the land had been pledged with BSSB through the joint venture deal.