The High Court has dismissed an application to remove parts of a lawyer’s statement regarding the late Lim Siew Kim’s will, ordering the plaintiffs to pay RM20,000 in costs.

KUALA LUMPUR: The High Court today dismissed an application by the grandchildren of the late tycoon Lim Goh Tong to expunge portions of a witness statement from lawyer Datuk Low Beng Choo, who drafted their mother’s last will in 2022.

In her judgment, Judge Mahazan Mat Taib said applying Section 60 of the Evidence Act 1950 and the governing principles on hearsay, the court finds that the bulk of the impugned evidence does not constitute hearsay in law.

“The plaintiffs’ application to expunge portions of the 4th defendant’s (Low) witness statements in enclosures 186 and 479 is therefore dismissed,” she said.

The court also ordered the plaintiffs to pay RM20,000 in costs to the defendants.

Among the portions sought to be expunged by counsel Datuk V Sithambaram were details on how certain markings in a 2021 will came about, allegedly on Lim Siew Kim’s instructions to reduce cash bequests to her two daughters.

The bequests were purportedly reduced from RM10 million to RM900,000 for Chan T’shiao Li, 48, and from RM10 million to RM100,000 for Kimberley Chan T’shiao Miin, 45.

Judge Mahazan emphasised that this ruling addresses only the threshold issue of admissibility and does not amount to any acceptance of the evidence’s truth.

“The court’s refusal to exclude the evidence does not amount to any acceptance of its truth, nor does it constitute any finding on the merits,” she said.

The judge added that the hearsay rule does not operate to exclude evidence of testamentary intention given by the very solicitor who received those instructions and acted upon them.

“Any genuinely objectionable third-party assertion may be addressed specifically and in context,” she added.

Today’s proceeding was conducted by counsel including Datuk V Sithambaram representing the plaintiffs and S Sivaneindran, who appeared for Low.

On Feb 23, Low testified, confirming that Siew Kim had signed her final will on April 28, 2022.

Siew Kim, the third child of the late tycoon Lim Goh Tong, passed away from cancer in July 2022 at the age of 73.

In the suit, the plaintiffs seek a declaration that the last will purportedly executed by the deceased on April 24, 2022, as well as two earlier wills, are null and void.

The plaintiffs further seek a declaration that their mother died intestate.

 The Sun Malaysia