KUALA LUMPUR – The high court has ordered a 9,723-square metre parcel of land in Kuala Lumpur, currently registered under four former Umno leaders – Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad, Tun Daim Zainuddin, Tun Musa Hitam, and the late Tan Sri Sanusi Junid – to be transferred to Umno within 30 days.
The land – identified as Grant 78154, Lot 40, Section 51 – is better known as the site of the Seri Pacific Hotel, according Umno’s lawyer Datuk Mohd Hafarizam Harun.
Judge Roz Mawar Rozain issued the order after Umno and the Federal Territories Land and Mines Office reached a settlement through a consent judgment.
“The land registered under the names of the trustees shall be vested and registered under Umno with full rights, interest and ownership in accordance with Section 9(b) of the Societies Act 1966,” said Roz Mawar.
She added that the Federal Territory Registrar of Titles or Land Administrator must execute the transfer within 30 days, in line with Section 420 of the National Land Code 1965.
The land was previously registered in the names Mahathir, Daim, Musa and Sanusi Junid as trustees.
Hafarizam was reported as saying that the decision resolves all outstanding disputes over the hotel’s ownership.
“This ruling renders the ongoing polemic over whether the trustees signed the transfer moot,” he said.
“The court granted our application with the Land and Mines Office’s consent, allowing the property to be transferred from the four trustees to Umno.”
The order came after Umno, through its executive secretary Datuk Mohd Sumali Reduan, filed an originating summons on March 6, naming the Federal Territory Land and Mines Registrar as the sole defendant.
Umno sought legal recognition that the land was held in trust for the party and should be registered in its name.
Sumali said all four trustees had signed an application and statutory declaration in October 2015, consenting to the transfer. Umno’s then office bearers – the president, deputy president, and secretary-general – also supported the move via a separate statutory declaration in December 2015.
A letter from the Federal Territories Land and Mines Office, dated December 28, 2015, confirmed that the transfer had been approved by the Kuala Lumpur Land Working Committee.
However, an attempt to formalise the transfer in 2016 was rejected in May 2017 due to discrepancies between the trustees’ names on the land title and their identification documents.
Sanusi and Daim have since passed away – in March 2018 and November 2024, respectively. – June 24, 2025