Who should bear the cost of non-use of car for delay in getting adjusters estimate?

 

Inquiry Committee and Sabah Law Association.

Below is my experience with the Advocates Inquiry Committee (Sabah).

In July 2004 I wrote to the Inquiry Committee about a legal firm in Kota Kinabalu, which I believed had committed perjury and conflict of interest in handling a case for the then Bank Bumiputra Malaysia Berhad which is currently under the CIMB group.

Subsequently, I telephoned the legal clerk who handled the matters for the Inquiry Committee several times. The response was always the same – the date for mention has not been fixed. After a few months I got busy with other matters and did not telephone the legal clerk who said that she will inform me when the case is called for mention.

Between 5 and 7 years since I filed my complaint I thought that this case will never be brought up and decided to clear all files which were cluttering my room.

I received an email from the Inquiry Committee signed by Mr.Roger Chin Ken Fong stating that the matter has been set down for the 2^nd mention at Inquiry Committee, Kompleks Mahkamah.

The letter stated that, if I did not attend, my complaint will be struck out automatically.

I confirmed attending.

As I had no documents with me I asked the legal clerk to send me my original complaint which was sent to me promptly.

The mention was finally scheduled and heard on 18.2.2019.

At the mention I found out from the Respondent, who represented the legal firm I had complained of, that he too did not receive any notice of the 1^st mention. I brought this up at the mention and Mr.Roger Chin, the secretary, responded that he may not have dispatched the notice of the 1^st mention.

On the date of the mention, 18.2.2019 I was also extended a letter from the respondent which he said he had sent to the Inquiry Committee on 27.1.2005.

This letter which was in response to my complaint filed in July 2004 was not extended to me when received by the Sabah Law Association on 28.1.2005.

Questions that arise in my mind are:

i.                     Why was the mention brought up only 15 years after my complaint?

ii.                   Why did the Inquiry Committee not dispatch the 1^st mention?

iii.                 Why was the response to my complaint made by the Respondent not extended to me in 2005 when everything was still fresh in my mind and when all documents were intact and witnesses available?

I later learned that the Inquiry Committee was to be replaced by the Disciplinary Board and the Inquiry Committee was requested to clear all outstanding files.

To be continued…