Making things right: Othman and Rosnah say they now want to fulfil the original plan of selling the land and sharing the money with family members.
76-year-old defrauded by family member gets justice after six years
JOHOR BARU: For the past six years, Othman Lopok had endured sleepless nights and been shunned by his own family after his 1.12ha ancestral land was illegally transferred and sold to another party.
Many of the 76-year-old’s family members believed he had made RM300,000 in profits from selling the land in Pontian in 2018.
However, Othman now feels vindicated after the High Court ruled in his favour on Sept 23, ordering the land to be returned to him. This came after he filed a civil suit against six parties, including a family member who acted as a land broker and a lawyer involved in the illegal transfer.
His wife, Rosnah Jaafar, 66, said her husband had been stressed over the sale of the land.
“Although we won the case, our task is not complete until the land is properly sold and the money is distributed to everyone in the family,” she said in an interview.
Rosnah said their ordeal began when Othman, the eldest surviving male in their family, was entrusted with the duty of selling the land and sharing the proceeds with the family.
Of the six siblings, only three are still alive. The land, previously planted with coconuts, is now covered in oil palm.
Rosnah said a family member who claimed to be a land broker had agreed to help find a buyer in 2018.
“Instead, she, with the help of a lawyer, allegedly sold the land to two other individuals. We were shocked when, in 2018, villagers told us the land and an old village house had been sold,” she said, adding that her husband initiated legal proceedings in February 2020.
“For the last four years, my husband and I have regularly attended court hearings,” she said, expressing gratitude to their lawyers Manian K. Marappan and Gajelan Rajakumar for taking up the case.
Rosnah, a mother of seven, said they are a poor family and never expected to be deceived by a relative.
In her ruling, Judicial Commissioner Wong Mee Ling said the broker had forged the power of attorney to defraud Othman, while the lawyer was found negligent in his professional duty for failing to conduct the necessary due diligence before executing the property transfer.
Wong ordered the land to be returned to Othman and directed the lawyer, Jamian Dollah, and broker, Indok Hadijah Lat Jannik, to each pay RM20,000 in damages to Othman as exemplary damages and a further RM20,000 each as costs.
She also ruled that the buyers, Tan Tek Chuan and Ong Bing Ren, could sue Jamian and Indok for their losses.
The other two defendants in the suit were the Johor state government and the Pontian land administrator.
