KUALA LUMPUR, June 9 — The High Court hearing the Genting family will dispute was told today that the late Lim Siew Kim, daughter of Lim Goh Tong, reduced the cash bequests allocated to two of her daughters from RM10 million each to RM900,000 and RM100,000 respectively in her final will because she felt betrayed and upset by their actions.
Lawyer Low Beng Choo, 68, who prepared the deceased's final will, testified that Lim had expressed anger and disappointment towards the first plaintiff, namely Chan T'Shiao Li and her husband, alleging that they were 'stealing' from companies in which they were involved and making false claims.
“As a result, she felt very betrayed and upset. She was told to leave the company, but eventually resigned on her own.
“Regarding the second plaintiff, Kimberly Chan T'Shiao Miin, the deceased had raised concerns about two incidents. One involved legal proceedings in which allegations were made concerning the deceased’s mental state, while the other related to disagreements among family members when Siew Kim's husband was hospitalised and placed on life support.
“We discussed this, and I, in fact, told her that, at the end of the day, they are your daughters. I asked her whether she wanted to change the cash bequests of RM900,000 and RM100,000, respectively.
“She gave me a very angry and definite response: “No change. They do not deserve it. They are lucky that I am providing some,” she said.
Low, who is the fourth defendant, added that the deceased’s state of mind was normal and she knew what she wanted to give, to whom, and what she wanted included in her will.
She was responding to the queries of lawyer Tan Sri Cecil Abraham, who is acting for the first defendant, namely the estate's executor Malcolm Fernandez.
At this juncture, lawyer Datuk V. Sithambaram, who is acting for the plaintiffs (the two daughters), objected to Low's testimony on the grounds that it was hearsay.
Initially, she did not want to divulge the reasons for the reduced bequests due to solicitor-client confidentiality.
However, High Court judge Mahazan Mat Taib asked Low to disclose the reason.
Previously, the court heard that Lim had initially allocated RM10 million each to her two daughters in her first will, later reduced the amounts to RM900,000 for T'Shiao Li and RM100,000 for T'Shiao Miin in her second will, and retained those amounts in her final will.
When asked by Sithambaram about the deceased's health condition, Low said that Lim was not fitted with a nasal tube when she signed her final will at a private hospital while receiving treatment for ovarian cancer.
Low, the sole remaining trustee of the Dikim Foundation, the main beneficiary of Lim's allegedly RM1 billion estate, also testified that she was unaware whether the deceased had been prescribed morphine to manage pain and relieve breathlessness when she obtained her signature.
The sisters filed the suit in 2023 against four defendants, including Low and their brother Marcus Chan Jau Chwen, challenging their late mother's mental capacity to execute the will and alleging suspicious circumstances surrounding its preparation.
Lim, the third child of the Genting Group founder, succumbed to cancer in July 2022 at the age of 73. She is survived by three daughters and a son.
