Court says MIC man got RM5.5m by fraud
The party's new treasurer-general, R Ramanan, is ordered to return the money to ex-government psychiatrist M Mahadevan.
KUALA LUMPUR: The High Court today
ordered recently appointed MIC treasurer-general R Ramanan to return RM5.5
million to renowned psychiatrist Dr M Mahadevan, ruling that it was
fraudulently received.
Judicial commissioner Lee Heng
Cheong said Ramanan had misrepresented himself to Dr Mahadevan, resulting in
the latter transferring the money into his personal account on May 19, 2010.
Lee also ruled that Ramanan had
failed to prove that the money was for a township development project in Sungai
Petani on a piece of land belonging to Dr Mahadevan.
The judge ordered Ramanan to pay the
money within 14 days from today. Counsel for the defendant sought a stay and
Lee ordered them to file a formal application by Monday.
Dr Mahadevan, 85, is a former chief
government psychiatrist and founder of the Malaysian Psychiatric Association.
He was in court when the judgment was delivered.
According to court documents, the
plaintiff had filed a claim of RM26.6 million to the Defence Ministry for its
use of his land as a firing range between 1968 and 1988.
In May 2010, Ramanan told Dr
Mahadevan that he could help him secure the claim if he paid a sum of RM6.5
million. They subsequently agreed on reducing the amount to RM5.5 million.
In his statement of claim, Dr
Mahadevan included a letter dated April 2010, furnished by the defendant, who
claimed that it was from the Defence Ministry. The letter purportedly showed
that the ministry had approved payment of the claim.
The plaintiff called nine witnesses,
including four officers of the ministry and a handwriting expert. The witnesses
testified that such a letter did not exist.
There were six witnesses for
Ramanan, including himself and his father.
Dr Mahadevan was
represented by Lavinia Kumaraendran and Cassandra Lee, while the defendant was
represented by Harjit Singh and Mahendra Maheson.
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