PETALING JAYA: A Lamborghini owner won a suit for negligence and conspiracy to injure him in the sessions court here in what is believed to be the first case where a company which has approved permits to import cars had used fraudulent documents to undervalue the vehicle.
This resulted in the customs department seizing the vehicle – a Lamborghini Huracan Performante 2018 – priced at RM1.3 million.
Judge Sazlina Shafie said businessman Yew Chin Teck had proven his case against BHU Autologistics Sdn Bhd on the balance of probabilities.
The judge said Yew, represented by lawyers David Gurupatham and Thej Eashen Previndran, had also shown he was a bona fide purchaser of the car.
Sazlina, in her oral ruling delivered last week, said the company had manipulated the tax documents and paid a lower duty for an older model.
However, she said the company, represented by Jarrett Ong and Elora Ng, overcharged Yew.
“The customs department discovered the fraud by negligence and seized the vehicle,” she said.
Sazlina ordered the company to pay Yew RM830,000 for loss of use of the vehicle from Sept 13, 2021.
She also ordered the company to make a further payment of RM2,300 per day (for loss of use of the vehicle) from Sept 14, 2021, until the realisation of the judgment sum.
The payment is inclusive of 1.5% interest, with Sazlina also awarding Yew RM25,000 in costs.
Gurupatham told FMT that the judgment sum as of last week amounted to RM5.8 million.
However, the judge allowed the customs department and the government’s counterclaim against Yew for non-payment of taxes, levies and duties which amounted to about RM1.35 million.
Yew was also ordered to pay RM10,000 in costs to the government, represented by federal counsel Nurul Akhilah Rosmi.
Facts of the case revealed that sometime in 2019, Yew agreed to buy the car from the company. However, the customs department seized the car a year later on suspicion that the taxes, levies and duties were not paid in full.
Yew then filed a negligence and conspiracy to injure him suit against the company.
Sourced by: freemalaysiatoday.com
