Appellate court upholds 'lawyer defrauded Orang Asli' decision
A three-member Court of Appeal bench today upheld a Johor High Court decision and ordered a father and son lawyer team to return part of RM38.5 million in compensation given by the Johor government to Orang Asli villagers for construction of a dam on their land.
The appellate court also upheld the finding that S Kanawagi and Dinesh Kanawagi were liable for breach of their respective fiduciary and contractual duties and conspired to defraud the Jakun Orang Asli community.
A three-member Court of Appeal bench today upheld a Johor High Court decision and ordered a father and son lawyer team to return part of RM38.5 million in compensation given by the Johor government to Orang Asli villagers for construction of a dam on their land.
The appellate court also upheld the finding that S Kanawagi and Dinesh Kanawagi were liable for breach of their respective fiduciary and contractual duties and conspiring to defraud the Jakun Orang Asli community.
This is because they had used part of the sum, said to be RM7 million, to purchase 27 units of condominiums in Kuala Lumpur.
The bench ordered an independent auditor to be appointed by the court to assess the damages. The bench comprised Justice Idrus Harun (now Federal Court), Justice Hasnah Mohamed Hashim and Justice Yeoh Wee Siam.
There were two separate judgments, one written by Justice Idrus and the other by Justice Yeoh for the two appeals made by the father-son lawyers with regards to two cases brought against them, the first by 77 Orang Asli from the Jakun tribe in the Linggui valley in Johor.
The second case was filed by the Lembah Linggui Orang Asli (Jakuns) Trust Fund (LLTF).
Besides naming Kanawagi and Dinesh, LLTF named Virgin Properties Sdn Bhd, Ku Azhar Ku Abdul Razak, Messrs Khana and Co, Riza Makhzan Ariffin, Putri Intan Nurul Arziann and Mampu Jaya Sdn Bhd as defendants.
The Orang Asli land was sold to Singapore for it to build a water catchment facility to supply water to the republic.
Of the RM38.5 million, a total of RM22 million was to be held in trust by the LLTF, while RM16.5 million was to be given to Kanawagi and Dinesh's law firm to be paid to the Orang Asli.
The Orang Asli said they were not aware of the details of the payment and after having found them out, they lodged a complaint with the Bar Council.
The Orang Asli were represented by Gurdial Singh (above, in robe)) and G Ragumaren, while Renu Zechariah, Prakash Menon and PT Ng appeared for the trust fund.
Commenting on the decision, Gurdial said the appellate court held both lawyers liable to the breach of fiduciary duty as there were misuse, mismanagement and misappropriation of trust funds.
"Hence, they want the amount of missing funds from the RM38.5 million to be identified and confirmed by the court approved auditor," he said.
In 2016, High Court judge Samsuddin Hassan ruled that the defendants had used part of the trust money to buy 27 apartments under Kanawagi’s name in Kuala Lumpur.
The proceeds of the rental from the 27 units was used to purchase 30 additional units and placed under Dinesh's name, said the court.
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