Lawyer and assemblyperson Jason Ong Khan Lee has filed an application to strike out a legal summons against him by playing card producing company Asiabet Sdn Bhd.

The application was filed on Dec 9 at the Georgetown magistrate’s court.

penang pkr jason ong khan lee.jpg In his application, Ong ( right ), who is the Kebun Bunga assemblyperson, said the summons should be set aside with costs, relief or any other order deemed appropriate and just by the court.

He said he was filing the application as Asiabet’s suit against him was “petty, and intended to disgrace and inconvenience” him.

“It (Asiabet’s suit) may undermine, prevent or delay action of the trial or in other words, it is an abuse of the court process,” he told Malaysiakini .

Asiabet is seeking the return of RM48,875 (US$12,500) and interest of 8 percent on the amount since Oct 19, 2006 to date, with costs and other relief deemed fit by the court.

The company directors happen to be his family friends and no fees were charged to them for his services.

But the company has alleged that Ong had withdrawn ‘trust monies’ from the client’s account without authorisation, in breach of the Legal Profession Act.

Asiabet said it has also lodged a complaint with the Advocates and Solicitors Disciplinary Board and that the outcome is pending.

Last month, Ong held a press conference to deny the charges and threatened to sue English daily Star for a news report on Nov 24, headlined ‘Assemblyman lawyer to file defence over breach of ethics’.

He accused the newspaper of alleged defamation and character assassination.

He took particular offence at the word ‘assemblyman’ in the headline and report, saying this was not mentioned at all in the summons that was filed by the company.

Meanwhile, in his recent application, Ong claimed that Asiabet’s actions was wrong  ‘ ab initio ’ (from the beginning) as he was merely representing legal firm Cheah Kah Peng & Ong when conducting the latter’s case at the material time.

Ong said Asiabet’s suit was a “duplicity” and “multiplicity of proceedings as the case is also pending under the Disciplinary Board.

“Asiabet’s action is mala fide and appears to be an ill-intentioned charge (against me),” he added.  

Background of the case:

Asiabet had engaged Ong to settle a legal problem with an Australian-based company, VIP Gaming Solutions Pte Ltd (VIP).

VIP Gaming Solutions allegedly had not paid Asiabet for about 17 months for purchase of some playing cards at a price of US$40,000. Only half of the amount was settled.

Ong claimed he managed to help Asiabet retain US$20,000 (RM76,038) and to dispose of the playing cards to a new buyer, to avoid a lawsuit.

As the Asiabet directors are his family friends, no fees or disbursements were paid to Ong or his legal firm.

Ong claimed that it was verbally agreed that, should Asiabet be able to claim any more money from VIP (later taken over by Stargames Corporation Pte Ltd), this would constitute his legal fees.

The plan ran into problems after Ong managed to obtain RM45,430.58 from Stargames. He said Asiabet wanted 50 percent of this and refused to acknowledge it as the legal fee.