by V. ANBALAGAN, ASSISTANT NEWS EDITOR
Malaysia's
Bar Council is forming a team of lawyers to provide legal advice to the
families of those on board the missing flight MH370, as lawyers from
around the world offer their services to those seeking answers and
compensation from the plane's mysterious disappearance.
Ribbeck
Law Chartered has already offered to represent the families of the 227
passengers and 12 crew members onboard the Malaysia Airlines Boeing
777-200ER in a RM4.95 billion suit but the American legal firm has
failed to obtain legally information about the plane, which has yet to
be found.
But
Bar Council chairman Christopher Leong said legal assistance would be
provided without charge as per its normal practice under the Legal Aid
Scheme.
"The
Bar Council Legal Aid team will be able to render preliminary legal
advice to the family members of those onboard the plane if they require
it," he told The Malaysian Insider.
Leong
said legal advice would include issues pertaining to insurance,
liability, procedure, possible causes of action and limitation period.
"If
and when the families are ready to commence legal action, they will
have to obtain the services of a legal firm which is prepared to take
their case.
"The assistance by the Bar Council Legal Aid team will not include the filing of a civil suit or representing them," he added.
Leong
said the availability of the council’s legal services would be conveyed
to acting Transport Minister Datuk Seri Hishammuddin Hussein and the
Chinese embassy so that the information could be relayed to the
families.
Leong
also said the Bar Council would act against American law firms if
reports about them offering their services in Malaysia were true as it
was illegal for them to provide any kind of service in Malaysia,
including legal advice.
The foreigners would have violated Malaysian laws, including the Legal Profession Act, he said.
Last month, a Chicago-based firm reportedly sought to represent aggrieved families from China and Malaysia.
Last
Saturday, a Houston-based law firm attempted to meet families at a
hotel in Kuala Lumpur but the meeting cancelled at the last minute with
no reason provided.
An advertisement calling on families to attend the meeting had earlier appeared in a local daily.
Leong
pointed out Malaysia had laws against touting and the Bar Council would
be looking into the conduct of these foreign firms.
The
Malaysia Airlines jetliner left the KL International Airport bound for
Beijing at 12.41am on March 8 but disappeared from radar about an hour
later while over the South China Sea.
A
total of 154 of the passengers were Chinese nationals and 50, including
the crew, were Malaysians while the rest were from 13 other countries.
A
multinational search for the Boeing 777-200 (9M-MRO) aircraft is
ongoing in the southern Indian Ocean following satellite data revealing
that the plane’s last position was in the middle of the Indian Ocean,
west of Perth, Australia,
Meanwhile,
family and estate lawyer Jane Tai said the Montreal Convention, estate
administration and probate issues would be relevant when the families
obtained legal advice.
"One does not need to wait for seven years to obtain a death certificate," she said.
Tai
said as long as there was credible evidence that someone who was
missing would in all probability not be located again, then an
application to court may be made.
She said the seven-year rule was only a presumption in a dispute whether a person was dead.
Tai
said the government could also conduct an inquiry into missing persons
like what was done when the lightning arrestor on top of Menara Umno in
Penang toppled in June last, killing two people.
An inquest was held to investigate the circumstances of the death of one of the two people killed, whose body was never found.
"The
Registrar of Births and Deaths must take into account the decision of a
coroner in the inquiry," she added. – April 21, 2014.
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