In response to a business weekly coverage regarding the acquisition of the Heritage Tower, Tan Sri Lee Kim Yew, advisor of Country Heights Holdings Berhad, who was directly involved in the process, has stated that the circumstantial evidence strongly suggests that insider jobs were conducted to prevent him from acquiring the property.
According to Tan Sri Lee, the property underwent 8 auctions, with irregular auction prices. Initially valued at RM 60 million, the price gradually dropped (10% per unsuccessful tender) to RM54 million and then to RM 48 million, but suddenly rose back to RM 60 million when Country Heights Holdings Berhad’s wholly-owned subsidiary, Country Heights Sea Resort Sdn Bhd, attempted to enter the bid. These irregularities indicate that forces may have been at work to prevent or his company from purchasing the property he said.
To recap, it is noteworthy that any amount paid for the property would be paid to Maybank, which during the Covid-19 pandemic in 2019 sued Tan Sri Lee Kim Yew to put him as the second defendant for being the guarantor of RM 100 million, and later obtained a Judgement Debtor Summon (JDS) in 2021 against him personally. During the court proceedings, RM 38.5 million in cash was paid, and with the RM 4.41 million entering the tender process, which means roughly RM 43 million would have been paid off.
In December 2021, Country Heights Sea Resort Sdn Bhd successfully bid on the Heritage Tower for RM 60 million but was said it was shocked to learn about the vandalism on the building’s ground floor. Following the refusal of public auctioneer Ng Chan Mau & Co and Maybank side to bring the matter for discussion, as a result, the RM 6 million was forfeited.
Country Heights again bid for the project during its latest tender in Nov 2022, for an amount of RM 44.1 million. However, it said that based on circumstantial evidence, insider jobs were suspected to be behind the two instances of vandalism in the building. Despite the successful bidding during the last tender period, whereby it has been successfully in the bid by raising it from RM 39.5 million to RM 44.1 million, the vandalism happened again for a second time, this time it said the whole first floor was damaged.
