By Dorcas Ting
KUCHING, Sept 30: A total of 232 plaintiffs won their bid to claim special damages of over RM37,351,520 from Genneva Malaysia Sdn Bhd in the Kuching High Court today.
Kuching High Court Judge Datuk Lee Heng Cheong today ruled that the 232 plaintiffs from Sarawak will be compensated with money for their losses in gold investment with Genneva.
The 232 plaintiffs have the right to claim the money from Genneva Malaysia Sdn Bhd through Bank Negara.
One of the 232 plaintiffs’ counsels, Wong King Wei, told reporters outside the Court that today’s judgement was something significant where all plaintiffs will be compensated with money and not by return of gold.
“The gold that has been lost will be compensated by the value of the gold in terms of money.”
Wong said he and the legal team, Counsels Betty Ling, Jennet Wong, Joshua Lee, Alex Ngu and Terrance Chong represented 269 plaintiffs in their claim against Genneva Malaysia Sdn Bhd for the losses they suffered due to purchasing of gold or subscribing to the scheme under Genneva.
However, 37 plaintiffs failed or refused to make the claims. Therefore, today’s judgement is for all plaintiffs except the 37 plaintiffs who failed to testify in court.
The 232 plaintiffs claimed special damages in the total sum of RM37,351,520.
In the statement of the claim, the defendant was said to have advertised and represented to the public at all material times that it was a licensed body to conduct gold trading.
The plaintiffs then entered into four types of agreements with the defendant for gold trading through its agents at its office at Bangunan Binamas.
However, the plaintiffs did not receive the gold products or the value of the gold products they had purchased.
They then sued Genneva for its failure to conduct business in a proper or legal manner so as to prevent seizure of any gold by the relevant authority. — DayakDaily
