Genting family will saga: Lawyer denies hiding trustee role in Dikim Foundation

KUALA LUMPUR - A lawyer who drafted two wills in 2022 for the estate of the late Lim Siew Kim, daughter of Lim Goh Tong, told the High Court today that she had not kept her role as a trustee of the Dikim Foundation a secret from the will beneficiaries.

Low Beng Choo, 68, who had known the deceased for more than 20 years in the course of her legal practice, said this when she was referred to a meeting where the reading of Siew Kim’s last will was conducted on Sept 12, 2022.

She was being cross-examined by Datuk V. Sithambaram, who is representing two of the deceased’s daughters, Chan T’Shiao Li (first plaintiff) and Kimberly Chan TShiao Miin (second plaintiff), who are challenging their late mother’s capacity to execute the will, as well as alleging suspicious circumstances surrounding its preparation.

The sisters named four individuals, including Low and their brother Marcus Chan Jau Chwen, as defendants in the suit, which was filed in 2023.

Sithambaram put it to the witness that she had recorded that Marcus (third defendant) had asked who was running the Dikim Foundation and who its trustees were, to which Low agreed.

When further questioned, Low acknowledged that although she was present at the time, she did not provide the answer, saying that it had already been answered by others.

Sithambaram: What do you mean now, are we going to provide the answers that you were the trustee of the Dikim Foundation?

Low: No, no, that's fact-finding.

Sithambaram: But the question is not fact-finding. The question is a clear question, who is running the Dikim Foundation, and who are the trustees?

Low: I did not answer that question.

Sithambaram: So I am putting it to you that you were keeping yourself as trustee of the Dikim Foundation a secret from the beneficiaries who pointedly asked you the question. Secondly, Marcus asked, you were in presence, but did not answer. You were keeping it a secret, agree or disagree?

Low: I don't agree with you.

Further questioned by Sithambaram, the witness said she was not aware that five months after the earlier will, the deceased had reduced the cash gifts to the first and second plaintiffs in a drafted will dated April 11, 2022, from RM1 million to RM900,000 and RM100,000, respectively.

The witness also said she had no knowledge that the first plaintiff, the deceased’s daughter, was the main person who had been looking after the deceased during her illness, nor was she aware that the first plaintiff had accompanied the deceased for admission at Prince Court, as reflected in hospital records.

When it was suggested to her that the first will did not reflect the actual assets and properties owned by the deceased, the witness responded by saying the will could be taken as the deceased providing for whatever she had.

Siew Kim, who is the Genting Group of Companies founder’s third child, passed away due to cancer in July 2022. The 73-year-old left behind three daughters and a son.

The hearing before Judge Mahazan Mat Taib will continue tomorrow. - BERNAMA