Court Mediation fails
After agreeing to the Plaintiffs’ proposal for a Court Mediation, Senior Pastor Prince Guneratnam (PG) failed to turn up for the much anticipated face-to-face negotiations. Instead, he sent Pastor Steven and deacon David Peters to represent him.
The above information was obtained from one of the 60-odd class action plaintiffs who also informed CT that out of the 6 deacons collectively named as the 2nd Defendants, only Patrick Wong, Edward Rajasingam and Philip Tan showed up.
According to the source, the main 7 Plaintiffs went with only one simple proposal and that is the formation of an independent committee to review and revise the Church Constitution for the future good of Calvary Church. And even that was rejected.
The sincerity of PG and his deacons in agreeing to the Plaintiffs’ proposal to settle the matter out of court really comes into question.
CT is unable to provide further details at this time as according to the source, the 7 main Plaintiffs are unsure if they could divulge the full details of what transpired during the Court Mediation.
The matter will now be set for hearing in chambers on 12 April 2011.
Friday, March 25, 2011
Thursday, March 10, 2011
PG Changes Lawyers
Zul Rafique & Partners replaces KK Wong
In a baffling move, Senior Pastor Prince Guneratnam (PG) recently applied to court to change the lawyer defending the Board of Deacons and him in the ongoing class action legal suit brought against them by a group of some 60-odd concerned Calvary Church members.
For reasons not known, he has replaced KK Wong with Zul Rafique & Partners. Zul Rafique & Partners was one of the legal firms which a few of the Plaintiffs had consulted before the commencement of the present legal suit. However, the Plaintiffs subsequently did not engage this legal firm and opted instead to engage a Christian legal firm.
KK Wong, who is a well-known Christian lawyer had, in October 2010 suggested that the Plaintiffs put in a proposal to the Defendants for an out-of-court settlement, in the interest of the Christian community. The Plantiffs agreed to the suggestion and promptly submitted their proposal to KK Wong. However, PG rejected the Plaintiffs’ proposal outright without even bothering to make a counter-proposal.
Shortly after, at the case management on 6 January 2011, the Court was informed that Zul Rafique & Partners has now taken over the defence from KK Wong.
Despite the slap in the face, the Plaintiffs pursued the route for an amicable resolution
to the ongoing crisis and made a new proposal for a Court-assisted Mediation, which is a newly adopted process in the Malaysian legal system, designed to encourage disputes among families and communities to be resolved amicably out-of-court.
The Court Mediation is now set to take place on 24 March 2011. In the event the Mediation process fails, the case will be heard on 12 April 2011.
The Church leaders have not, until today, updated the members on the change of lawyers or the developments leading to the change. They have only merely announced the Court Mediation and Hearing dates. That’s transparency, Calvary Church KL-style.
