Malaysia court dismisses estate administrators’ objection in $410M inheritance battle gripping Genting founding family

The preliminary objection concerned an application filed by Siew Kim’s son, Marcus Chan Jau Chwen, seeking to remove the administrators over alleged misconduct and non-compliance with court orders.

The administrators’ lawyer had argued that Marcus introduced new factual allegations in his written submissions.

But the court on Thursday found that Marcus’ submissions were based on evidence and exhibits already filed in court.

“That constitutes a submission based on documents already on record, so it does not amount to the introduction of new evidence,” Judge Mahazan Mat Taib said, as quoted by The Edge Malaysia. “The objection is misconceived and overruled.”

After rejecting the objection, the court moved on to hear the removal application, with proceedings scheduled to resume on March 4.

In his removal application, Marcus claimed that estate funds were drained through wrongful payments and that some disbursements were made from individual bank accounts rather than consolidated trust accounts.

He alleged that the administrators interfered in the management of companies linked to the estate and almost caused it to pay RM4.73 million in tax assessments on behalf of a company called Prominview, even though the obligation supposedly lay with a joint venture partner.

He also accused them of lodging private caveats and carrying out property valuations despite lacking the authority to distribute or dispose of estate assets.

Marcus had earlier secured an ad interim injunction in January that restrains the administrators from acting for the estate pending the disposal of the removal application.

The administrators were appointed by the court in November 2023 to manage the estate amid a family dispute that followed a probate suit filed by two of Siew Kim’s daughters, Chan T’shiao Li and Kimberly Chan T’shiao Miin, to challenge the validity of her will.

The daughters alleged fraud in the execution of the will, which left them just fractions of their mother’s estate, and sought to nullify it.

The trial for the suit was heard on Monday, with a ruling scheduled for March 2.

Siew Kim, who died of cancer in July 2022, was the youngest daughter of Lim Goh Tong, founder of the Genting gaming empire.

The founder passed away in October 2007, by which point he was the country’s third richest man with a net worth estimated at US$4.3 billion, according to Forbes.