FAIZAL BIN ZAINAL RASHID v 1. ) KEDAH AGRO HOLDINGS BERHAD 2. ) SHUBERT DELOS REYES ANCHETA 3. ) Ahmad Qusyairi Bin Ahmad Zaini
ka-22ncvc-21-06-2023 High Court (Mahkamah Tinggi) 1 February 2026 • KA-22NCvC-21-06/2023 • 28 min read
14 cases cited
(0 SG, 14 foreign)
Catchwords
CIVIL PROCEDURE Pleadings — Bound by pleadings — Departure from pleaded case — Plaintiff pleaded friendly loan to corporate entity but testified loan was to deceased individually — Plaintiff withdrew claim against principal debtor mid-trial — Whether fatal to the Plaintiff's case — Whether secondary claim against guarantor collapses without amendment to pleadings. Locus standi — Representative capacity — Estate of deceased — Action commenced against deceased's son — No letters of administration extracted — Whether Defendant had legal capacity to be sued — Whether action was incompetent and a nullity ab initio — Rules of Court 2012, Order 15 Rule 6A — Probate and Administration Act 1959. CONTRACT Illegality — Public policy — Ex turpi causa non oritur actio — Agreement disguised as "Investment Fund" — Funds disbursed to foreign third party — Purpose of funds to secure state land and political influence (merasuah) — Whether transaction was an illegal influence-peddling scheme — Whether agreement void ab initio — Contracts Act 1950, s 24(e). Restitution — In pari delicto — Plaintiff an active participant in illegal scheme — Whether Plaintiff barred from seeking equitable restitution or statutory relief — Contracts Act 1950, s 66. Guarantee — Liability of guarantor — Secondary obligation — Claim against principal debtor withdrawn — Guarantee Agreement lacking 'jointly and severally liable' clause — Whether action against guarantor alone maintainable without establishing principal debtor's default. EVIDENCE Burden of proof — Forgery — Allegation of forged signatures on Guarantee Agreement and Collateral Letter — Bare denial — Failure to adduce expert report from Chemistry Department or lodge police report — Whether burden of proof discharged — Evidence Act 1950, ss 101 & 103. Documentary evidence — Unstamped document — Admissibility of Guarantee Agreement — Whether non-stamping renders document automatically void — Stamp Act 1949, s 52(1). Contemporaneous documents — Primacy over oral evidence — Written agreements explicitly stipulating "Investment Fund" instead of "friendly loan". Cross-examination — Failure to cross-examine — Rule in Browne v Dunn — WhatsApp logs — Whether failure to cross-examine on informal messages can confer legal capacity or legitimize a void agreement. LAND LAW Equitable charge — Creation of — Unregistered collateral assurance letter — Properties gazetted as Malay Reservation Land — Application for order for sale — Whether private letter circumvents strict statutory procedures of National Land Code and Kedah Malay Reservation Enactment. Ownership — Nemo dat quod non habet — Properties registered under name of a non-litigant third party — Deceased lacked legal capacity to pledge properties — Whether court of equity can encumber third-party property.
Practice Areas
Counsel (5)
Statutes Cited
Contracts Act 1950 (Cap 136)
Evidence Act 1950 (Cap 56)
National Land Code (Cap 828)
Rules of Court 2012
Stamp Act 1949 (Cap 378)
Cases Cited (14)
UK (2)
[1930] 1 KB 628 [1994] 1 AC 340
MY (12)
[1965] 1 MLJ 255 [1969] 1 MLJ 22 [1986] 1 MLJ 490 [1989] 3 MLJ 313 [2012] 1 MLJ 761 [2013] 5 MLJ 360 [2015] 6 MLJ 1 [2017] 11 MLJ 49 [2018] 2 CLJ 66 [2019] 6 MLJ 622 [2021] 6 MLJ 820 [2023] MLJU 2533
Judgment
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Read on eJudgmentSource: eJudgment (ka-22ncvc-21-06-2023)