KUALA LUMPUR, April 13 — Country Heights Holdings Bhd (CHHB) founder Tan Sri Lee Kim Yew has clarified that he is solidly solvent as an entrepreneur in Malaysia.
In a press conference today, he said he has never declared himself bankrupt or filed for bankruptcy.
“I am far away from insolvency. I have accumulated tangible and intangible assets for the last 50 years of my experience.
“I never declared myself to be bankrupt. If you are bankrupt, you cannot contribute to society and the country,” he said.
Lee made the announcement after news about his alleged bankruptcy went viral on social media and affected those who were concerned about him.
The Country Heights founder said he was attacked by a foreigner named Patrick Healy, a US lawyer and citizen who also used to work for his US company known as Club Excellence Inc.
Healy received a payment in the form of a consultant fee amounting US$570,000 (RM2.5 million) throughout his service.
Lee said after winding up the company, as he did not intend to do any more business in the US, Healy went to the US Arbitration Court without his presence.
“I was not present in the US court due to long distance and Covid-19,” he said.
Le said the US court then sentenced and granted a court judgment in Healy’s favour.
However, it was not revealed what the grounds for Healy’s claims against Lee were.
Following the matter, Healy brought the US court’s judgment to a Malaysian court (Shah Alam High Court), where he was granted an Adjudication Order (AO) and Receiving Order (RO) against Lee on Jan 26.
Lee said Healy used Malaysian bankruptcy law to declare him bankrupt.
“Based on the fact that I was attacked on social media, I have written to the chief secretary to the Government (KSN) to allow lawyers from both sides for an amicable set-aside order.
“Failing which, I will file my statement of affairs to the Insolvency Department’s (MDI) director-general by depositing RM3 million cash for MDI to deal with Healy,” he said.
No impact on Country Heights Holdings
Meanwhile, CHHB, in a statement to its shareholders today, has assured that the personal incident of one of its shareholders would not impact the company’s financial performance or operations.
Lee is CHHB’s largest shareholder, holding a 57.64 per cent stake in the group.
“We want to emphasise that their personal incident is a confidential matter and will not affect CHHB’s operations.
“We have a competent management team and a strong corporate governance structure in place to ensure that our business operations continue without interruption,” said managing director Datuk Mircle Yap.
Yap said the group highly valued investors’ trust and stressed that any shareholder’s personal financial situation or insolvency would not affect their financial or operational performance.
“The group acknowledges and appreciates the robust corporate governance policies of Bursa Malaysia and remains dedicated to maintaining the utmost standards of ethics and professionalism,” he said.
