Court of Appeals dismiss appeal by late Ghafar Baba's ex-wife

PUTRAJAYA: The Court of Appeal has dismissed an appeal by the late Tun Ghafar Baba's ex-wife in her alleged breach of contract lawsuit over a piece of land in Jelebu, Negri Sembilan.
The decision was delivered by a three-man panel of the appellate court comprising justices Datuk Rohana Yusuf, Datuk Vernon Ong Lam Kiat and Datuk Hasnah Mohammed Hashim.
In a unanimous decision today, Rohana who chaired the panel said the court did not find any appealable error in the High Court judge's grounds of judgment warranting the appellate court's intervention.
"We agree with the High Court judge's findings and affirmed the same," she said, in dismissing the appeal with costs of RM10,000 to be paid by D. Heryati Abdul Rahim.
Heryati, 55, was appealing against last April 26 decision of a High Court in Kuala Lumpur in dismissing her lawsuit against developer Tan Sri Lau Ban Tin and wife, Puan Sri Mary Lee Siew Cheng for alleged breach of contract to get back the land, which she claimed was worth RM1 million.
The High Court judge, Datuk Hue Siew Keng had ruled that Heryati's lawsuit was filed out of time, which should have been filed within six years from the time the contract was allegedly breached in 2005, instead of filing it in 2015.
In her suit filed on Feb 5, 2015, Heryati alleged it was the couple's failure to transfer ownership of eight hectares of land in Jelebu to her, based on an agreement made on June 20, 2000.
In their affidavit dated April 20, 2015, the couple said Heryati had no legal right to initiate the claim as it was time barred.
Heryati was represented by lawyer Kevin Mahendran while lawyer Low Peck Lim appeared for the couple. — Bernama