Legal battle for Syed Kechik’s RM400 million estate ends

During his lifetime, politician and businessman Syed Kechik Syed Mohamed Al-Bukhary had amassed an empire that was worth about RM400 million.

Syed Kechik

When he died on 10 April 2009, his multi-million ringgit estate – which included Syed Kechik Holdings Sdn Bhd – became the subject of a complicated family feud between Syed Gamal (his son from his first marriage) and Syed Kechik’s second family (comprising daughters Sharifah Zarah and Sharifah Munira and wife Sofiah Moo Abdullah). The two daughters are directors of Syed Kechik Holdings. This is a summary of the long legal battle within the family, so typical when families are rich beyond comparison and the patriarch dies with incomplete or without proper estate planning.

The initial inkling of the legal feud surfaced in September 2009 when Sofia and her two daughters first filed an application for a Letter of Adminstration. Almost immediately, Syed Gamal obtained an ex-parte injunction at the Syariah Court to stop his 44 per cent stake in the company from being sold or liquidated. Two months later, the Syariah Appeal Court affirmed the decision after dismissing an appeal from Sharifah Zarah and Sharifah Munira.

The two sisters then brought the case to the Civil High Court by way of an originating summons. In the summons, they sought a declaration that Syed Gamal, as a beneficiary of Syed Kechik’s estate, had no rights or interests in the company’s assets until the completion of the administration and distribution of the estate. They also wanted an order to prevent their half-brother, his servants, agents and representative or anyone acting on his behalf from accessing and interfering with the assets, records, accounts and affairs of the company, including interfering in the execution of the duties and powers of Sharifah Zarah and Sharifah Munira as the directors of the company and all other corporate matters including transfer and disposal of the company’s shares.

In January 2010, the sisters obtained an interim injunction to prevent Syed Gamal from interfering in the company’s affairs pending the disposal of the originating summons at the Civil High Court. The Judicial Commissioner, Anantham Kasinather, who granted their application for an injunction, also ruled that the Syariah Court had no jurisdiction over the company on account of it being a corporate entity.

Then in April, Syed Gamal filed an application saying that as he was his father’s only son with Zainab@ Eshah Abdullah (Syed Kechik’s first wife), he was the heir and legitimate son, which entitled him to be a joint administrator of his father’s estate. He asked for a caveat that would restrain his stepmother and stepsisters from managing the estate without first consulting him.

At the caveat hearing in June, the lawyer for the sisters and their mother, N Vijay Kumar, told the court that Syed Gamal was not fit to administer the estate as he had “total disregard” of the civil law. Interesting, the newspaper quoted the lawyer as saying: “He thinks the Syariah Court supercedes the civil law,” adding that despite the injunction filed against him, Syed Gamal was persistent with his case at the Syariah Court. “If this is his behaviour, then he cannot administer the estate by law. He has demonstrated that he is not fit (to be an administrator),” Vijay Kumar added.

Whether or not the High Court judge accepted this argument, I don’t know but he decided in July that the RM400 million estate should be jointly administered by Syed Kechik’s three children and second wife. Judicial Commissioner Lee Swee Seng said he hoped the decision would enable the family to cooperate with one another but if there was still no consensus, they could come back to court.

Lee’s decision made at 8.15pm was filled with advice that left everyone in court listening in complete silence. He said in whatever situation, the parties involved should think of what the late Syed Kechik would like to see if he was still alive. He had worked hard to give his children a comfortable life and would not like to see the family torn apart.

Lee said the wealth acquired by Syed Kechik throughout his life was not only enough for his children but his grandchildren too. In his judgment, Lee also advised that the excess from the estate be donated to charity, while Syed Gamal and his family members from Syed Kechik’s second wife could begin the peace process by forgetting about the dispute.

In any event, the ladies then appealed against the High Court’s decision to make Syed Gamal a co-administrator. However, the three-man Court of Appeal panel, led by Justice Low Hop Bing ruled that the High Court had correctly given due regard to Syed Gamal’s right to be a co-administrator.

He said it was the court’s view that acrimony between Syed Gamal and his stepmother and half-sisters was not a good ground to exclude the former from being co-administrator of his father’s estate. Low said allegations made by Sofiah and her daughters that Syed Gamal lacked knowledge of the father’s business and that he (Syed Gamal) failed in a T-shirt business were not valid grounds to remove his right to be considered for appointment as co-admininstrator.

“Success and failure in life, business or any other activity is purely a matter of subjective judgment. Success is not final. Failure is not fatal. It is the courage to continue that counts,” he said. The panel, which also comprised Court of Appeal judge Datuk Wira Abu Samah Nordin and High Court judge Datuk Azahar Mohamed, unanimously dismissed the appeal. “In our view, Section 30 of the Probate and Administration Act 1959 provide for the entitlement of all persons who are interested in the estate to be appointed administrators of deceased’s estate. We are unable to identify any error on the part of the Judicial Commissioner in appointing all appellants (Sofiah, Sharifah Zarah and Sharifah Munira) and respondent (Syed Gamal) as co-administrators of the deceased estate,” Low said.

And today, after the case finally reached the Federal Court, the country’s highest court affirmed the decision that the estate be jointly administered by all four relevant parties in the case. It was to be Syed Kechik’s second family’s final bid to stop Syed Gamal from claiming part control of the estate.

A three-man panel led by Chief Judge of Sabah and Sarawak Richard Malanjum unanimously dismissed Sofiah and the two daughters’ leave application to revise the Court of Appeal’s refusal of their appeal against the High Court ruling. The panel, which also comprised Federal Court judges Zulkefli Ahmad Makinudin and Md Raus Sharif, made the decision after hearing submissions from lawyers representing the four of them.

But is this the end of the story? For sure, the legal battles have been exhausted. The tussle had gone from the High Court up till the Federal Court. What’s left now is for the co-administrators to work together to realise the distribution of Syed Kechik’s estate. Now, considering the animosity between the two parties, this may prove to be even more challenging that the court battles. Can they ever work together to bring the company to greater heights? I think only time will tell.