Plaintiffs' lawyer questions Exklusiv's intention of telling members about club sale

LAWYERS representing disgruntled members of The Pines club tried on Thursday to show that motoring tycoon Peter Kwee's company Exklusiv Resorts had no intention of informing club members that property developer Oxley Holdings had in March 2013 already begun the process of buying over the club's Stevens Road premises.

On Day Three of The Pines club hearing, Jeffrey Leong, who was general manager at the club between 2008 and 2018, took the stand as a witness for the co-defendants, Mr Kwee and his company.

Under questioning, Mr Leong told how, on the Saturday morning the news of Oxley's purchase hit the headlines, he was on the club's grounds when several members asked him about the implications of the sale, after having read about it. He also told the court that for a month and a half after, members were also calling the membership department to ask about the sale.

Mr Leong said he received a call from Mr Kwee, informing him that even though the club's plot of land had been sold, members could be reassured that "the club is still there, and that it is going to be managed by Exklusiv Resorts".

Mr Kwee also told him that no club employee would be out of a job.

However, when Mr Leong was asked by plaintiffs' counsel Lau Kah Hee whether he had discussed with Mr Kwee about the need to put up a notice on the board or to inform members through other means, he said he did not.

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In relation to the 2012 dialogue with club members, Mr Leong was asked whether pictures he received from AM Architects through Mr Kwee contained information about clubhouse dimensions; he was supposed to add these pictures into his presentation. Mr Leong said he could not remember.

He also could not recall whether the plans at the time showed a three- or four-storey clubhouse. He said he assumed that the new clubhouse would be big enough for the members.

But he stressed that those plans were preliminary and that the objective of the dialogue was to elicit feedback from the 91 members present. He therefore decided not to distribute the slides to members who had not showed up for the session.

The defendants' lawyer Foo Xian Fong maintained in his opening remarks that there has been no breach of contract, nor deceit or negligence. In the area of deceit, he sought to show that the defendants had fully intended to continue operating at the premises, but subsequent instructions from the Urban Redevelopment Authority made it impossible for them to do so.

He also sought to show that the fact that the sale was knowledge in the public domain meant that the defendants were not concealing it from club members. However, Justice Chua Lee Ming pointed out that third parties (such as the media) publishing news of the sale was "not the same" as the defendants expressly informing the members so.

This was aggravated by the fact that the land was sold with no guarantee of protection of the interests of club members; Oxley was under no obligation to Exklusiv to build a new clubhouse. Neither was it obligated to lease any space back to it. Two hotels now stand on the plot of land.

The defendants are represented by Rajah & Tann; the plaintiffs - now numbering 170 - are represented by BC Lim & Lau LLC.

The hearing resumes on Monday.