Photo : Samsuri Baharuddin
KOTA KINABALU: Smallholders’ representative Samsuri Baharuddin, one of the defendants in the land case, is happy with the Court of Appeal’s decision on Thursday allowing former Deputy Chief Minister Datuk Christina Liew’s and his appeal against the decision of the High Court Judge, who had in September 2014 erred in his judgement that the duo had induced the smallholders of the Bagahak Scheme to breach the joint venture agreement (JVA) entered between the smallholders and Borneo Samudera Sdn Bhd (BSSB).
Samsuri said in allowing the appeal, the Court of Appeal found that the High Court Judge’s decision was null and void.
“After 15 years of court litigation that had been bothering me all these years, I am greatly relieved that the Court of Appeal had ruled that the High Court Judge had erred in his judgement against us in the Tawau High Court in 2014.
“On behalf of myself and the smallholders, who had supported us, I would like to thank our lawyers for their services,” he said in a press statement on Saturday.
Samsuri said he was engaged by the smallholders to seek legal advice from lawyers to advise on their rights under the JVA.
“This is because after signing the JVA in 1998 up to now, we have never been paid any dividends despite having surrendered our rights to land lots in the Bagahak Scheme to Cemasjaya Berhad in exchange for shares in the company,” he explained.
In this respect, Samsuri stressed that from the outset of the land case until today, there is no such thing as ‘land grab’ which, he said, is totally fictitious and vexatious.
“To straighten the record, I wish to reiterate that the two pieces of land in the Bagahak Scheme have since 1998 up to now remained in the possession, custody, control and management of Borneo Samudera Sdn Bhd (BSSB), the company which has been harvesting the oil-palm fruits in the scheme yielding profits. Not an inch of the land has been taken away by anyone,” he clarified.