Tan Bee Geok, the estranged wife of Supermax chairman Stanley Thai, scored a significant legal victory in their ongoing divorce proceedings on Friday, after the Court of Appeal ruled that banks may freeze his accounts under a High Court order issued in January last year.
Announcing the unanimous decision, Justice Supang Lian said the High Court fell into error by amending its initial order following an application Thai made to clarify its terms.
“The learned High Court judge erred in allowing the clarification application which had the effect of changing the entire nature of the original order.
“The High Court judge’s decision in amending the order to state that the banks did not have the power to freeze (Thai’s) accounts was erroneous,” the judge said.
Supang said banks did indeed have the power and obligation to freeze Thai’s accounts pursuant to the original intent of the order.
The Court of Appeal also ruled that Justice Evrol Mariette Peters was wrong to delete the phrase “Supermax Corporation Berhad, if any,” from the text of the original order.
Supang said any shares held by Thai in the publicly listed entity would also be subject to the freezing effect of the order.
“The appeal is allowed in part, with costs of RM10,000 payable by the husband to the wife, subject to allocatur,” said Supang, chairing a three-member panel which included Justices Choo Kah Sing and Alwi Abdul Wahab.
The court, however, left intact an amendment Peters made stating that the order was to take effect on Jan 10, 2024, as the matter had not been challenged by Tan in the appeal.
Tan was represented by lawyers Frederic Kong, Avinash Kamalanatan and Jessica Leong, while Chris Chin appeared for Thai.
Peters had on Jan 10 last year issued an order preventing Thai from dissipating more than half of his assets as at that date.
The order covered land in Ijok, Selangor; a condominium in Subang Jaya; multiple bank accounts; EPF funds; and shares held in “Supermax Corporation, if any,” Supermax Holdings Sdn Bhd, and Global Charm Corporate Ltd, a corporation based in Hong Kong.
Tan’s application was made under Section 102 of the Law Reform (Marriage and Divorce) Act 1976.
The section provides that a court may prevent a spouse from disposing assets with the intention of depriving the other spouse’s right to any part of their matrimonial property.
Peters subsequently amended the order to remove Supermax Corporation from the list.
She also inserted a clause to stipulate that her order was not intended to empower banks to freeze Thai’s accounts.
The amended order further permitted Thai to continue receiving his salary, bonuses and dividends in a particular bank account provided it retained at least half of its funds as at Jan 10, 2024.
Tan appealed to have those amendments removed.
Thai and Tan are co-founders of Supermax, one of the world’s leading glovemakers.
They were married in 1987, but saw their relationship deteriorate amid allegations from both sides.
In 2022, Tan sought a judicial separation. Thai filed for divorce in April last year. Proceedings are ongoing in the family court in Kuala Lumpur.
Peters presided over the case until her recent promotion to the Court of Appeal.
