Snap gets time to settle damages

comments     Tony Thien     Published     Updated

updated version The crisis-ridden Sarawak National Party which was executed with a writ of seizure earlier today gained a respite when the plaintiff decided to give the party more time to settle its debts this afternoon.

A High Court bailiff was at the party headquarters in Kuching this morning to execute the writ issued Sept 24 last year and seized all moveable assets following the partys failure to settle RM804,000 in damages.

The writ followed a judgment against the party on Aug 28 last year in the Miri High Court arising from a claim by a Bintulu-based contractor, Eastern Park Sdn Bhd, against three defendants, including the partys treasurer-general. The contractor had sued over non-payment for work done on a proposed TV3 repeater station in Bintulu.

Lawyer for the plaintiff, Lim Heng Choon told malaysiakini that his client agreed to give Snap time to pay up after the deadline lapsed late this afternoon.

Snaps application for a stay order in the Miri High Court earlier in the afternoon was not granted. The party had also applied for a certificate of urgency to get the High Court to intercede on Thursday, May 2.

Eastern Park was awarded the contract to build the television tower in early 2000 but stopped work when it failed to receive any payment after about 30 percent of the project had been completed.

The company had sued Sistem Television Malaysia Bhd (STMB), which airs TV3, the treasurer-general of Snap and the member of Parliament for Bintulu and sacked Snap member Tiong King Sing. The party had failed to contest the action and thus had a default judgment obtained against it when the case was heard August 2001 in Miri.

The other two defendants, STMB and Tiong, have filed their defence. Their cases are being heard.

The writ of seizure and sale is the sequel to that default judgment. Although the writ is valid till Sept 24 this year for execution, the court decided to execute it today after the party failed to pay up.

Snap has applied to set aside the judgment and the date for the hearing has been fixed on June 24 in Bintulu.

Not aware of suit

Last week Snap president James Wong Kim Ming told malaysiakini he and his party were not aware of the suit being filed against the party and hence no lawyer appeared when judgment was entered against it last year.

The party through its legal counsel Albert Tang of Chew, Jugah, Ullok & Advocates has now applied to set aside the judgment, including a stay order for the writ.

According to the plaintiff's legal counsel Lim this morning, the High Court was trying to execute the writ of seizure and sale on all moveable assets of the party today, and the party was given up to 4.30pm to pay up.

The case has been going on for quite long and it is not fair on my client, he had said.

The only senior party staff present this morning when the court bailiff, James Igu, tried to execute the writ was the party executive secretary James Meling.

Meling tried to get in touch with the party's legal counsel but he was in court at the time. He also sought unsuccessfully to reach the party's secretary-general Justine Jinggut, who was reported to be on his way to the airport either to take a plane or waiting to meet some guests.

Wong, the party president, is on medical treatment in Sydney and is not due back until next week.

Tiongs letter

According to the plaintiff's counsel, the records show that the letter of intent from TV3 to build the TV tower in Bintulu was issued to the contractor in November 1999 on the strength of a letter from the recently sacked Snap treasurer-general Tiong.

The contract was awarded in February 2000 for a sum of RM1.42 million which would be paid by Tiong through Snap.

However, according to other records, the total project cost for extending the transmission of TV3 broadcast to Bintulu was estimated at about RM4 million.

Recently, Snap top leadership claimed that Tiong had failed to keep his promise to fund the building of the tower. But this was denied by the Bintulu MP.

Wong has conceded that the transmission tower issue was among the reasons why the central executive committee took action against Tiong for breach of promise to the party and for putting the party in such an embarrassing position.

No comment

However, Wong refused to comment on the call by his deputy president Peter Tinggom urging him to step down as president together with him at the party's triennial general assembly in February next year.

Wait till I come back next week, he told malaysiakini in a telephone conversation from Australia.

However, his son Richard Wong, the party's senior vice-president and assembly representative for Limbang, was quoted in today's Malaysian Today , a local English tabloid, as saying that Tinggom was merely exercising the right of free speech.

This is a democracy and anyone has the right to say things like that, he was quoted as saying.



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