The Legend Hotel Kuala Lumpur is operating without a valid license from the Kuala Lumpur City Hall.
The hotel is now being run by The Legend Group of Hotels and Resorts, a unit of Metroplex Holdings Sdn Bhd, although the license to operate the business is in the hands of the Sunway Group.
Counsel for Metroplex Leong Khai Yan of S Sothi Leong & Partners, when contacted to confirm if the hotel is currently operating without a licence, said: “The answer is yes.”
Leong told Business Times that they have written to the Minister of Federal Territories to intervene and consider the revocation and the reinstatement of the license. They have yet to get a response.
As a general rule, operating a hotel without a licence is an offence which is punishable by fine and/or imprisonment. The Hotels (Federal Territory of Kuala Lumpur) Act 2003 states that no person shall operate a hotel unless he has been granted a license by the Commissioner in respect of the hotel in accordance with the provision of this Act.
The composite hotel license to operate The Legend, held by Metroplex Sdn Bhd, was cancelled by Dewan Bandaraya Kuala Lumpur (DBKL) on June 16 2011.
A composite license includes liquor license, which means that the hotel should also not serve any alcohol.
DBKL in a letter to Metroplex said it had reached a decision to cancel the license following an application by Sunway Group stating that it had bought the asset at a court auction.
It then granted a new licence to Sunway Putra Hotel Sdn Bhd that came into effect on June 24 2011.
Sunway had planned to enter and take possession and control of the hotel last Friday at noon following a High Court order.
But a last-minute appeal by Metroplex at a higher court, barred Sunway from executing the order.
Metroplex is seeking to nullify the public auction.
“We are now caught in a limbo. It is not our doing. It was arbitrarily done (by DBKL),”
Leong said.
“We are going to take action against DBKL for revoking the license arbitrarily,” he added.
When asked why it continued to operate the hotel, Leong said it is being run as a going concern. “We cannot kick out our guests.”
On its part, the hotel has taken steps to cancel forward-bookings and is no longer taking any new bookings. Events that were scheduled to be held at the hotel have also been moved.
A call to the hotel revealed that it will not take any bookings until August 31 2011.
Some concerns have also been raised about liability should anything happen to the guests.
It remains unclear if the insurance policy covers incidences which happens when there is no license to operate the business. Calls made to the office of The Legend’s general manager to obtain clarification were not returned. – Business Times
