Report lodged against architects
17/07/2001 The Star
A group claiming to represent over 3,000 purchasers of Majestic
Heights project units yesterday lodged a police report against two
architect firms for allegedly issuing architect certificates fraudulently.
Led by the committee chairmen of the four phases, the group claimed the
certificates wrongly certified the project's stages of completion,
resulting in the end-financiers releasing monies to the developer.
Advisor of Ad-Hoc Committees (All Phases) for Taman Terubong Indah
(Majestic Heights) Purchasers, Dr Loh Hock Hun accompanied the group to
the state police contingent headquarters in Penang Road at about 11.40am
yesterday.
"The buyers are highlighting this case with the hope that architects
would act more professionally in future," he said.
Phase 1 committee chairman Lim Beng Hong said their report was
substantiated by letters received last month from the Board of Architects
Malaysia confirming that the architects had been found fraudulent, were
chastised and fined the maximum RM5,000.
"We feel that the penalty imposed has been too lenient.
"This is a criminal case which we want the police to investigate and
bring the culprits to book and that includes imprisonment," he said.
In their joint statements, committee chairmen of the four phases called
for a review of the Architect Act 1967 to increase the maximum penalty
against malpractices by an architect to RM200,000 or more.
They want the architect to be deregistered with the board and be
suspended from practice for life together with a minimum jail term of five
years.
They also called for end-financiers to engage professional building
surveyors to conduct site inspections with bank officers prior to
disbursing loans.
"End-financiers must be held fully responsible for the proper
disbursement of the loan to the developer to avoid abuse and cheating,"
they said.
The representatives also urged more buyers to register with the various
committees, adding that they had found about 13 cases of units at Phase 3A
suspected to be sold to more than one buyer.
A special forum for purchasers of Phase 2A will also be held at the
Caring Society Complex on July 22 from 2pm to 6pm.
For details, contact the chairmen Lim Beng Hong (Phase 1) Tel:
016-4210738, Neoh Hong Lee (Phase 2A) Tel: 019-4466407, Lean Guan Jin
(Phase 2B) Tel: 012-4766235 or Eric Ciah Cheng Gin (Phase 3A) Tel:
012-2820619.
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