KOTA KINABALU: Foochow Association Kota Kinabalu honorary life president Datuk Yii Ching Siew guarantees that he will write a RM5 million cheque to acquire the ‘Foochow Village’ agricultural land within 24 hours of receiving the consent of all Koperasi Serbaguna Masyarakat Foo Chow Sabah Berhad members who had bought the land.
In a press statement issued yesterday, Yii said he officially challenge the cooperative’s board of directors chairman, Dr Ling Hie Sing, to obtain all the signatures of land owners who agree to sell the land at RM5 million.
“Once you have handed over the document to my lawyer, I guarantee that you will definitely receive the RM5 million cheque within 24 hours,” Yii stated.
The 49.75 acres of land which was acquired by the cooperative was subdivided and sold to 150 members of the cooperative at a price of RM30,000 per lot in 1999.
Each lot spans 8,000 square foot.
The land was left idle after 15 years as the necessary approvals had yet to be obtained. Issues arose when the cooperative board of directors announced that the land has been sold to a Bruneian businessman for RM3 million, as some members said that the land was worth more than that, while some said the land was allegedly sold without their
consent.
On June 19 this year, Yii announced that he had offered to buy the land for RM5 million cash and promised that the members who bought the plot of land would receive what they deserved.
Initially, the board of directors had said Yii’s offer had come too late as a prior deal has been struck, but on June 28, the board published a notice in the local newspapers saying that the deal with the Bruneian businessman has been scrapped.
All the while the board of directors had maintained that the sale was done according to procedure.
Soon after, Yii released a press statement on July 6 saying that the cooperative board of directors was self-contradictory on the issue of the ‘Foochow Village’.
In a press conference on July 9 this year, Ling announced that the board has decided to take legal action against Yii because it was the only way to restore the board’s innocence.
In his statement yesterday, Yii said he was worried about the Foochow Association Kota Kinabalu election at the end of this year as the cooperative’s board of directors has announced that they would be contesting in the election.
Yii was also wary that the board might pick up on Ling’s tendency to sue.
Yii continued to say that the next day after Ling made the announcement to sue him, a group of cooperative members started a petition to stop the board of directors from using the cooperative’s money in the legal proceedings. He advised Ling to drop his habit of suing people so as not to add on to the pile of cases that the legal courts has to handle.
“The courts and judges hold sacred and respectable status, they are not private organizations. We should not simply increase their burden,” he said.