KUALA LUMPUR: The government may have overpaid by up to RM500,000 in compensation for the disputed Duta Enclave land and may not need to pay anything more, the High Court heard today.
Government-appointed valuer Tan Tat Khuan said his assessment showed that the government had overpaid by between RM400,000 and RM500,000 when it compensated the company for the land acquired in 1956.
He said his valuation placed the compensation at between RM875,000 and RM985,000, compared with the approximately RM1.39 million previously paid by the government.
"If the court agrees with my calculation of RM875,000, no additional compensation needs to be paid," he said.
Tan, 40, an assistant director at the Valuation and Property Services Department under the Finance Ministry, said this when questioned by senior federal counsel Nurhafizza Azizan before High Court judge Roslan Mat Nor.
He said the two valuations were based on different land areas used in the assessment, resulting in different rates per hectare.
Tan said his first valuation placed the land's value at RM875,000, while the second put it at RM985,000.
He maintained that both figures were lower than the compensation already paid by the government.
However, Tan acknowledged that the government could be required to pay an additional RM1.2 million if the court accepted the valuation submitted by Semantan Estate's private valuer.
He said the private valuation amounted to approximately RM2.62 million, compared with the RM1.39 million previously paid by the government.
The Court of Appeal had previously directed that any additional compensation should take into account interest.
During cross-examination by the company's lawyer Janet Chai, Tan also acknowledged that he could not independently verify the development restrictions applicable to the land in 1956 as the original planning records could not be located.
Chai questioned Tan over his reliance on historical valuation reports prepared by two other valuers, Wragg and Harding, which indicated that development on the land was restricted to residential houses at a density of one house per acre.
Tan agreed that he had not produced any original planning documents to independently verify the restriction.
He said checks with PlanMalaysia had failed to locate the planning records from 1956.
However, Tan maintained that the historical reports were reliable as both valuers had conducted checks at the time and reached consistent findings.
Roslan then asked whether there was a possibility that the reports contained errors.
Tan replied that he was not saying the reports were 100 per cent accurate, but maintained that they could be relied upon.
He also disagreed with Chai's suggestion that the reports amounted to hearsay.
He explained that although he could not verify the planning information against original records, he had relied on the historical reports as references in preparing his own valuation.
The proceedings concern the assessment of compensation payable to Semantan Estate following the Court of Appeal's decision on the disputed Duta Enclave land.
The dispute dates back to 1956, when the government took possession of the 263.272-acre land, which now houses several government buildings and public facilities.
The Court of Appeal had ruled that the land should remain with the government, with Semantan Estate entitled to compensation to be assessed based on its value at the time of acquisition.
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