4-Year-Old Case Dragged Up In Horizon Towers Saga

Source : The Straits Times, Oct 2, 2007

Dragon Court case cited to persuade judge to overturn the STB decision

THE tangled Horizon Towers case has become even more complex as a controversial collective sale four years ago was dragged into the proceedings.

In their High Court appeal yesterday, lawyers for the majority sellers of Horizon Towers cited the case of Dragon Court, where a lone owner fought against the estate being sold en bloc in 2003.

They argued that the Dragon Court ruling sheds some light on the ongoing legal tussle over the Leonie Hill estate, as it is also related to an issue of missing disclosure.

In the Horizon Towers case, the Strata Titles Board (STB) dismissed the owners' application for a collective sale in August over a technicality: Pages bearing three consenting owners' signatures were missing from the submitted application.

The majority owners want the High Court to overturn the STB dismissal.

Their lawyer - Tan, Rajah and Cheah's Mr Chelva Rajah - said the STB knew those three owners signed the sale deal, and that the Board had the power to amend the application to include the missing pages.

Mr Rajah argued that even without those three signatures, the rest of the owners who had consented to the sale still held 82.51 per cent of share values - comfortably above the 80 per cent minimum requirement.

Mr Rajah also told the court that the missing pages were a 'clerical error'.

He then cited the High Court's ruling that upheld the STB's decision to allow the Dragon Court sale in 2003, despite more 'material' information not being disclosed in the application.

Dragon Court unit owner Koh Gek Hwa tried to block the sale, arguing that a conflict of interest between the majority sellers and the buyer had not been highlighted. Nine of the estate's 14 units were owned by a single company linked to the condominium's buyer, she said.

But the STB, noting that there was only one bidder for that sale, decided there was no reason to suggest that the buyer was unfairly chosen. The High Court backed that ruling, saying the STB had known of the seller-buyer relationship prior to its decision.

Yesterday's Horizon Towers hearing was somewhat quieter than Friday's lively session, when comments from the public gallery peppered the lawyers' speeches. The room, though, remained packed, with more than 20 lawyers from six firms and at least 40 people in the public gallery.

Justice Choo Han Teck kicked off proceedings by deciding to allow the estate's buyers to participate, ending a row that had taken up the whole of last Friday.

The buyers - led by Hotel Properties and represented by Allen & Gledhill's Mr K. Shanmugam - had asked to join the proceedings in order to protect their own interests. They have said that they will sue the majority owners for breach of contract if the $500 million sale does not go through.

Their request for inclusion, however, proved unpopular with the condominium's majority sellers.

Justice Choo said yesterday he would allow the buyers' participation as they were pursuing their commercial interests. He said it will not be 'unjust or inconvenient to hear two more voices', as long as he can 'mute' them if they prove disruptive.

Things heated up in the afternoon, when Mr Shanmugam took the court through a long retelling of the Horizon Towers saga.


Earlier case

# Dragon Court went en bloc in 2002, and sole bidder Limau Heights Development offered $12.9 million.

# But unit owner Koh Gek Hwa, a former accountant, opposed the sale, claiming not enough weight was given to the majority sellers' links to the buyer.

# When the STB dismissed her objection, Ms Koh became the first home owner here to take her collective sale protest to court.

# The High Court ruled that the STB knew all material information before its decision.


Who's who in the saga

The buyers

# Hotel Properties, Qatar Investment Authority, funds managed by Morgan Stanley Real Estate.

# Lawyers: Allen & Gledhill, led by senior counsel K. Shanmugan.


The majority sellers

# As a whole, directed by the current sale committee.

# Lawyers: Tan, Rajah and Cheah, led by senior counsel Chelva Rajah.


The majority sellers

# A group of 13 sellers, including three members of the original sale committee.

# Lawyers: Rajah and Tann, led by senior counsel Andre Yeap.


Minority owners

# One group of three represented by Tan Kok Quan, led by Mr Ramesh Kannan.

# One group of four represented by Harry Elias Partnership, led by senior counsel K. S. Rajah and Mr Philip Fong.

# One owner represented by Phang & Co, which has given instructions to senior counsel Michael Hwang.