Sunday October 18, 2009
Court dismisses trader’s claim with costs
KUALA LUMPUR: A livestock trader who sued Bank Bumiputra (M) Sdn Bhd 10 years ago for an alleged breach of contract not only lost his case but was ordered by the Commercial High Court on Friday to pay the bank RM100,000 in costs.
Justice Dr Hamid Sultan Abu Backer made the order after he found that there was never a concluded contract between the plaintiff Bekalan Sains P & C Sdn Bhd and the bank.
“In this case, the plaintiff relies heavily on the letter of offer dated Feb 26, 1996, to say its compliance of the terms and conditions of a restructured facility leads to a concluded contract.
“I find the arguments and evidence of the plaintiff to be shallow and unprecedented to entitle them to succeed.
“No reasonable mind will say, on looking at the evidence as a whole, that there was a concluded restructured agreement,” Dr Hamid said in his oral judgment delivered.
Dr Hamid said the only agreement which was intact and binding on both parties had to be those relating to the continuing facilities and not merely an offer letter.
Bekalan Sains had filed a RM24mil suit against Bank Bumiputra in 1999 claiming that the bank was in breach of contract, causing them losses of over RM21mil.
The company claimed that it had suffered substantial losses from its contract (to supply 500,000 birds a month) with another company, Kretam Holdings Bhd, following the bank’s breach of contract.
In their statement of claim, the company alleged that they had come into an agreement with Bank Bumiputra after they accepted the bank’s letter of offer for a restructuring of financial facilities.
However, it said the bank’s imposition of a further condition, requiring additional securities which resulted in it not being able to use the bank’s facilities, amounted to a breach in contract.
The bank, however, argued that the company had failed to comply with the terms of the restructured facilities, which was why the additional condition was imposed.
In his decision, Dr Hamid also said he found the plaintiff’s main witness, Bekalan Sains’ controller K. Chandran, who established the company’s quantum of loss and damages, to be untruthful.
He said the agreement (with Kretam Holdings) was never produced during the trial, and when he requested for it, the plaintiff was evasive.
Dr Hamid said the credibility of the witness and his evidence was, therefore, tainted.
“For the reasons stated, I dismiss the plaintiff’s claim with costs,” Dr Hamid said.
David Gumpatham and Ranjan Chandran appeared for the plaintiff while Nitin Nadkarni represented Bank Bumiputra.
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