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« on: May 09, 2012, 01:18:01 AM »
Sunway Director is Mrs Hart’s brother
By NALINEE SEELAL Tuesday, May 8 2012
THE Central Authority in Malaysia, acting on a request by Attorney General Anand Ramlogan via the TT Central Authority, issued court proceedings in Malaysia which later confirmed the authenticity of a birth certificate belonging to a director of Sunway Caribbean Limited, which was given a multi-million dollar contract by Udecott, under the tenure of then executive director Calder Hart, to build the Ministry of Legal Affairs Tower in Port-of-Spain.
The authentication of the birth certificate is being seen as a major coup for Fraud Squad investigators who are probing alleged perjury.
Newsday was told that on March 16, Justice Madmud bin Abdullah, presiding over a Sessions Court in Malaysia’s capital Kuala Lumpur certified that the birth certificate of Lee Hup Ming — the original of which is in possession of the TT Police — is in fact authentic.
Evidence was taken from Nor Fadliah Binti Mat Shaari, the Assistant Registration Officer at the National Registry in Malaysia. Evidence was led by Federal Counsel Shammala Jaganathan, in a proceedings titled Public Prosecutor vs Nor Fadliah Binti Mat Shaari, Arrest Case No 64-09- 02/2012.
Lee Hup Ming was listed as a director of Sunway Caribbean Limited, the company which got a contract worth $368,902,836.60 from Udecott to build the tower. According to information from the Kuala Lumpur Stock Exchange, on January 27, 2005, CH Development sold 100 percent of its shares to Sunway Caribbean Limited.
Sunway Caribbean Limited was given the contract to build the towers on May 5, 2005, and on that same day, CH Development changed its name to Sunway Construction Caribbean Limited. On May 17, 2005, Lee Hup Ming, Ng Chin Poh and Leong Chong Chee, the original directors of CH Development were replaced by Kwan Foh Kwai and Poon Koo Hoo.
During his testimony before the Uff Commission of Inquiry in 2009, former Udecott executive chairman Calder Hart denied before the Commission that neither he nor his wife Sherrine Hart were related to any of the directors of the company that was awarded a contract to build the Ministry of Legal Affairs Tower. Hart presented a sworn statement to the police alluding to this.
Police also secured a statement from his wife Sherrine, in which she, too, claimed not being related to any of the directors of the company given the contract to build the tower.
However, sworn witness testimony from Nor Fadilah Binti Mat Shaari, the Assistant Registration Officer of the Malaysian National Registry, contradicts the claims by Calder Hart and his wife Sherrine of no familial link with director Lee Hup Ming.
Shaari’s testimony confirmed that Lee Hup Ming is in fact the brother of Sherrine Hart.
During her testimony on March 16, Shaari was shown a copy of the birth certificate of Lee Hup Ming. “This birth certificate under the name of Lee Hup Ming, was registered at the Chinese Maternity Hospital, Negeri Sembilan,” Shaari told the court.
She was asked, as an Assistant Registration Officer, how was she able to confirm the authenticity of the document, to which Shaari replied: “Even if this is a copy, to authenticate it, we have to look at physical records and we have that physical record.”
She was also asked if she was able to obtain the certified copy of the extract of the birth certificate of Lee Hup Ming bearing Birth Registration Number 154663 and Identity Card Number 20230580, in which Shaari answered, “yes”. She even told the court that she was able to produce the documents in court, because she had them in her possession.
During that court proceeding, the Federal Counsel authenticated the birth certificate of Lee Hup Ming. On April 5, an official correspondence was sent to Sunita Harrikissoon — Head of the Central Authority of TT — by Mohammed Radzi Harun, Acting Head of the International Affairs Division for the Attorney General in Malaysia.
The correspondence, in part, stated: “Please find enclosed, herewith, the following documents marked as Annexures A and B respectively. Certificate signed by Mahmud Abdullah, the Sessions Court Judge of the Sessions Court at the Federal Territory of Kuala Lampur, Malaysia dated 16 March 2012; “and the Notes of Proceedings/Recording of Witness Statement of the witness Nor Fadilah Binti Mat Shaari (National Registration Identification Card No.: 820826-03-5036), recorded before Mahmud Abdullah, the Sessions Court Judge of the Sessions Court at the Federal Territory of Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia dated 16 March 2012 and its attached exhibits.”
Fraud Squad police are expected to travel to Malaysia later this week to secure information and evidence as they continue their probe into allegations of perjury. This visit to Malaysia is being made possible through the intervention of AG Ramlogan, who wrote to the Central Authority in Malaysia seeking the necessary assistance to facilitate a probe by TT police into a criminal complaint.
The Central Authority of Trinidad and Tobago also wrote to the Central Authority of the United States asking for assistance in locating Mr and Mrs Hart who were last seen in Miami. Local police sources said the Harts are needed by investigators to assist in the perjury investigations.