Why foul mouths need sterilizing?

BUTL Group 4 Briefing 26 March 2008

Well… those who didn’t go, I can’t tell you how much you have missed but here’re the gist of it.

Lawsuit – why Mr. Ngeow from Ngeow & Tan thinks we have a chance. What’s going on now?

• Against DM, it’s a sure win due to these points, at least…
  1. In a trade contract with willing buyer & willing seller, a seller must first made known to the buyer of all facts that is the truth. Did they? Was it a real serviced apartment (which is just another name for another type of hotel)? Otherwise we won’t be here.
  2. Investments are governed & licenced (Company Act Div 5 states clearly on this) to be legal, else conmen run loose, & very loose indeed. Did you buy this property to live in? Or was it an investment?
  3. The land owner (Majlis Bandaraya Seremban, MBS) cannot give away the power of attorney to a private company (DM). This is significant because if this is null & void, so is the Sales & Purchase Agreement (SPA) that we entered into with DM.
• But so what if we win? does it guarantee our nightmares are over? That all our liabilities, that we signed a bank loan with our good friend “the financier”, will disappear happily & all the monies we have paid them will be refunded after we have won against DM in return of the property? So Mr. Ngeow proposes to help end our nightmare by sueing the banks! here’s why.
  1. If you win against DM, you only win against them. Your financier will still harass you for the monthly installment. DM won’t pay you a single cent, they will just wind-up & you can sue them for bankruptcy, like they care?!?!
  2. Banks are a very professional body, they have the best lawyers (which makes sense why most lawyers don’t sue the banks, they are a source of income for lawyers), they are well connected & a loan application goes through a hell of a lot of stages. Strangely then why an auntie with RM2k per mth income can get 4 apartment loans approved eh… So the banks are part to blame. They can’t say they know nothing abt this scam & just merely approves your loan.
  3. By sueing the banks you get to return the property to DM/banks & get back all your money that you have paid the bank, let the banks hold the legal documents of the property & the property itself. We want back our money!
• Who is Mr. Ngeow? Does he have any other aid at all? Anwar had plenty of lawyers & still lose! Well, there is another lawyer who is willing to fight against these giants, the banks, & he is none other than Malik Imtiaz Sarwar, a real human rights street fighter, a rare breed as Mr. Ngeow puts it.
• So where are we? Well, first group has a final hearing on 22 Apr 08 & after this, if we win this hearing, we will have won a big battle. The war is at the half way stage now. 2nd group has all hearings done & are ready to go for the trial, coz they won in one of the appeals. What so crucial is this stage? Why is it taking so long?
  1. Before any case goes to court, the judge must give all defendants a chance to strike-out the lawsuit coz some lawsuits are just too ridiculous.
  2. What does it mean? It means that at this stage, which is held at the judge’s chambers, there is no holds barred, all gloves are off, all cards are on the tables. All evidence laid before the judge here will be the same thing presented during the trial, if the trial happens. So that is why this is a crucial stage & if you win here, the chances are pretty high, so claimed Mr. Ngeow but he must stress that this is the first time that sueing the banks in such a lawsuit is m’sia’s first!
  3. And the 1st group’s judge has given a go-ahead for group 1 & group 2 to be combined for trial, if it happens. So if it does happen, Ngeow & Tan will apply to put group 3 inside as well. So for group 4, it would be filed & should have the same treatment as group 3.

So? Good news for the ears? What’s gonna happen if you join group 4? What are the RISKS?

• No risk, no gained. Are you willing to stop payment to the bank & get blacklisted?
• But it’s not choiceless, you can still pay under protest, but not recommended by Mr. Ngeow.
• Just because you are blacklisted doesn’t mean it’s the end of your future investments that requires bank loan, Mr. Ngeow sighted an example of one plaintiff got blacklisted but still getting new loans & loads of it. Just a matter of how you handle the banks.
• If you just default on this account, the banks have no right to take your money from any of your account to pay for this. You just make sure you don’t default on other loans.
• If the banks decides to sue you for defaulting on this loan, Ngeow & Tan will take care of this by putting it in the same case for the courts. & to date, no bank has successfully sued anyone to bankruptcy for not paying this loan while this lawsuit is still on-going!
• Another downside if you lose is also that the banks will sue you to claim back their legal cost, always.
• There’s also the Limitation Act of 6 years for you to file your case & Mr. Ngeow said that to be safe, the 6 years starts from the SPA date coz you are sueing them not just on the GRS (which you can use the date of Vacant Possession, VP).

So when is group 4 to be filed then? Well, Mr. Ngeow said that you should sort all these out with Ngeow & Tan within 1 month & it will be filed then if there are at least 40, right now 120 has registered in group 4 so lets hope at least 40 decides to sue (Group 1, 2 & 3 combined have over 400 plaintiffs). The turn out for this briefing is quite bad as you would have imagined, only abt 50-60 ppl. These are the things in the slides that is requested of you, if you intend to join that is…

• Copies of
  1. Sales and Purchase agreement,
  2. Guaranteed Return Scheme (GRS),
  3. Deed of Mutual Covernants,
  4. Loan Agreement,
  5. Deed of Assignment,
  6. Receipts,
  7. Bank statements and
  8. Fee payment.
• Address: Ngeow & Tan, 157-1 Jalan Segambut, 51200 KL
  • Contact Person: Mdm Yap / Miss Lee 03-6257 8796 (OFFICE) 03-6457 9895 (FAX)
  • Mr. Ngeow Yin Ngee, ngeow_tan@yahoo.com

Now, if you intend to sue, or if you are already in any of the first 3 groups, the apartment is still “yours”! So there is absolutely no problem if you decide to reap a little of the reward by renting it out! “It does not undermine the lawsuit”, said Mr. Ngeow. This brings us to the JMB or Joint Management Body

• Constant no answers from DM is what you get, so Mr. Ngeow will help to do searches if a JMB has been formed by DM.
• Of all the Pro-tem committee, only Dr. Maria is still there to help out & to organise all these, which I felt we were very lucky & she may decide to join me in my quest to get this JMB thing sorted out. Mind you, deadline for DM to form is 12 Apr 08. Krishnan is sort of the “Leader” for group 4, he might be helping out in the JMB as well. I told Dr. Maria that the committee of the JMB must have at least someone from the “ground”. Let’s see how this turns out…
• Whether there will be multiple JMBs , one for each block like Sri Jasmin, or 1 JMB for the whole of BUTL, Mr. Ngeow pointed out 1 MC (Management Committee), that is formed after title has been released, is for 1 title. I will follow up with Mr. Ngeow.

So that concludes my update on this briefing. The audience were so inquisitive until Mr. Ngeow had to beg to be released. Dr. Maria has also pleaded for some contribution so that she & “the team” can continue their effort to do all these awareness campaign. I had no qualms in offering my RM50. Those who have you will catch your name at http://www.butlbuyers.org/?p=20#comment-14274 coz I specifically asked her that victims offering help should not be victimised further.

Well… if you think you missed alot, next time, if there is another, you should make an effort to attend. 140k for this apartment may not seem alot to some of you from the way I view some of your interest & priorities, it’s your money anyway. But to me, it’s not just a matter of money, it’s life itself. You are born in m’sia, you live in m’sia, these things happen in m’sia, it’s your choice if you want to be a mere sleeping partner. So even though we share the same bantal, tapi mimpi berlainan. No worries, I am sure at times of adversities, we will share the same dream. Good luck y’all.