Sale of house leads to defamation suit

Stage 3 in a legal battle over a house takes place in court today. This latest saga is over a letter sent by house owner’s son, Kumar Appavoo, to the chairman and board of the Telecom Credit Co-operative Society which the latter claims is defamatory.

Accusations of lack of transparency and against personalities like chairman Theyvendran have resulted in the society suing for defamation.

The case goes back to 2006 when the the Joon Hiang Road home of Appavoo’s mother was put on force sale because of loan repayment issues. The lady had taken out a loan of $800,000. The house was sold for $1.25 million seven months later in 2007.

Stage 2 kicked in when Appavoo took out a civl case against the society for deducting from the sale money for services that, he said, were not rendered. These included the processing fee, clening service and the use of a security guard to look after the houses.
The court found that the society liable for most of the claims and ordered them to pay part costs of $28,800, which is equivalent to 60 percent of costs.

Then, on April 28, 2011, Appavoo sent that letter which is now the subject of a defamation suit.