KUALA LUMPUR: The High Court hearing of the Genting Group family's will dispute heard that one of the contested wills was signed at a private hospital while the late Lim Siew Kim, daughter of Lim Goh Tong, was undergoing treatment for ovarian cancer.
Low Beng Choo, 68, a lawyer who prepared two wills for the estate of the late Siew Kim, said one of the wills was signed on April 11, 2022.
He further denied any suggestion that the physical and mental condition of the late Siew Kim, at the time she is alleged to have executed the second will, had impaired her capacity to understand or comprehend the nature and extent of the assets she was disposing of.
Low, the sole remaining trustee of Dikim Foundation, the main beneficiary of Siew Kim's allegedly RM1bil estate, testified under cross-examination on Monday (June 8) by lawyer Datuk V. Sithambaram, counsel for two of the deceased's daughters, Chan T'Shiao Li and Kimberly Chan T'Shiao Miin.
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.
Low, the fourth defendant, had drafted and witnessed Siew Kim's wills dated April 11 and April 28, 2022 and had also acted as a witness to her earlier will dated Nov 2, 2021.
Sithambaram asked Low if she knew that the deceased was being treated for ovarian cancer, fluid in her lungs causing breathlessness and other ailments when she was called to Prince Court Medical Centre on April 11, 2022. "I do not know fully," Low responded.
Sithambaram: Given the physical and mental condition of the deceased, at the time the second will was allegedly executed, in fact, the deceased was not in the position to understand the extent of what she was executing.
Low: I totally disagree.
Counsel further submitted that Siew Kim had not been assessed as cognitively fit by any qualified medical practitioner, including a psychiatrist or neurologist, before executing the second will. Low again disagreed with the suggestion.
Low informed the court that a doctor had witnessed the signing of the will. She stated that it was her general practice to request a doctor's presence whenever she witnessed the execution of a will within a hospital setting.
Siew Kim, 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 one son.
The hearing before Judge Mahazan Mat Taib resumes on Tuesday (June 9). – Bernama
