Date set for new bid to intervene in suit over Samy Vellu’s mental health

KUALA LUMPUR: The woman who claims to be married to former Cabinet minister Tun S. Samy Vellu has, for the second time, filed to intervene in a lawsuit which sought to declare the latter as mentally unfit.

Meeriam Rosaline Edward Paul, 59, first attempted to intervene in the suit, filed by Samy Vellu’s son Datuk Seri S. Vell Paari, in December last year.

She claimed that relevant evidence would show that Samy Vellu was mentally fit but on Sept 11, the application was dismissed by the High Court.

Lawyer RSN Rayer, who represented Meeriam, said on Monday that his client has filed a new application to intervene in the suit on Sept 22.

“Previously her (Meeriam) application to intervene had been rejected by the court.

“So she has filed anew. The court today (Monday) set Oct 8 to hear the new application,” he said when met after the matter came up for case management in the chambers of deputy registrar Idamasliza Maarof.

Lawyer Tina Francis appeared for Vell Paari.

On Dec 2 last year, Vell Paari, who is the former MIC secretary-general, filed an originating summons against his father to determine his mental state through an inquiry under Mental Health Act 2001.

He named his 83-year-old father, a former works minister, as the sole defendant.

The only son of Samy Vellu sought an inquiry under Section 52 of the Mental Health Act 2001 to determine whether his father had a mental disorder that would cause him to be unable to manage himself and his affairs.

On Dec 17,2019, Meeriam filed an application to be an intervenor in Vell Paari’s lawsuit.

In a separate suit filed in Ipoh in March last year, Meeriam filed for an interim order to have unrestricted access to Samy Vellu and also to be paid RM25,000 maintenance in alimony pending the outcome of her main suit.

However, hearing for the interim order was put off by a request from Vell Paari’s legal team due to the lawsuit seeking to declare his father as mentally unfit.

Meeriam claimed that she and Samy Vellu went through a customary marriage in Kuala Lumpur in 1981.

She said they did not have any children together.