A senior lawyer accused of shortchanging his Orang Asli clients had allegedly asked them to ink a document or risk losing their RM22 million, which is kept in a trust fund.

The money was part of the RM38 million awarded to 52 Orang Asli from Lembah Linggui in a landmark ruling against the Johor state government in 1995.

According to their spokesperson Saling Lau Bee Ching ( pix ) today, lawyer S Kanawagi had called for a meeting with his clients at their village last night.

"We were called for a meeting and our lawyer asked us to sign some sort of document, the contents of which were not made clear to us.

"If we didn't sign the document he told us that the RM22 million in our trust fund will be returned to the government," he claimed when contacted.

Saling said a few of them had signed the document while the 36, including himself, who lodged a police report against the lawyer on July 5, did not.

However, he could not produce a copy of the alleged document or cite what was exactly stated in it.

Despite numerous attempts, Kanawagi could not be reached for comment. The lawyer is believed to be in Johor. It is also learnt that he had filed a police report there pertaining to this case.

On Friday, Kanawagi denied cheating his clients, saying that RM10.2 million of the RM16 million which the group claimed was unaccounted for, had gone for his legal fees.

He told malaysiakini that the exorbitant amount was not for himself alone but for a group of experts as well who assisted him during the trial.

The lawyer also produced a contract with the village headmen that entitled him to a 50 percent cut to any award above RM6.4 million.

However in their police report, Saling and his group claimed that the headmen had entered into a contract with the lawyer which stipulated his fees at RM500,000. This was later denied by Kanawagi.

No complaints

In a related development, the Jabatan Hal Ehwal Orang Asli (JHEOA) said it had not received any complaints regarding the matter.

"This matter is between the lawyer and the Orang Asli. They (the plaintiffs) have not lodged anything officially and I am unaware of the meeting that transpired last night," said JHEOA Kota Tinggi district officer Amir Fuzi Baharuddin.

However, the National Human Rights Organisation (Hakam) called on the JHEOA to be more proactive and investigate the case.

"This is no longer a matter between a lawyer and his clients but a matter of a trustee and beneficiaries of a large sum of money," said its coordinator K Shan.

He said since the beneficiaries were in limbo as to the whereabouts of their money, the department must act as it is responsible for the welfare of the Orang Asli community.

Shan also called on the police to expedite their investigations into the case.

The case is now being investigated by the Johor police headquarters' commercial crime division.

Contacted later, a police spokesperson said investigations were at the infancy stage as they were in the process of obtaining relevant documents from the court.

In December 1995, the Johor Bahru High Court ruled that RM38 million be paid to 52 plaintiffs after the state government had acquired part of the community's land to build a dam.

Of this figure, the court ordered that RM22 million be placed in a trust fund with the lawyer, the village headmen and the JHEOA acting as trustees to the deed.