The registration of land title is defeasible if obtained through fraud, and a bona fide purchaser cannot claim indefeasibility if aware of the fraud.

JUDGMENT

Alice Loke Yee Ching J:

Introduction

[1] The Plaintiff's case is but another appalling instance of a land owner being dispossessed of his land by the fraudulent actions of third parties.

[2] The Plaintiff is the administrator of the estate of her late husband, Madhu a/l KV Dharan. She seeks to recover for the estate, a piece of land which was once that of her husband's, but by a series of transactions, is now registered in the name of the 3rd Defendant.

The Plaintiff's Case

[3] The Plaintiff is an Indian national. She was married to Madhu a/l KV Dharan ("Madhu") until his death on 2 April 1998. She is presently residing in India.

[4] In 1993, Madhu purchased a piece of land identified as HSM 530 Lot 7501 Mukim Bukit Raja, District of Petaling, now known as PM 1834, Lot 7501, Tempat Bukit Cherakah, Mukim Bukit Raja, Daerah Petaling, Selangor Darul Ehsan ("said land"). The consideration sum was RM75,000.00. The transfer land was effected and the land registered in the name of Madhu on 9 March 1994.

[5] When Madhu passed away, Letters of Administration was granted to the Plaintiff and her mother in law on 16 April 2002. The services of solicitors Messrs A. Gnanarajah & Co, were engaged to obtain the Letters of Administration. However, the Plaintiff's mother in law passed away shortly thereafter and she then became the sole administrator of Madhu's estate.

[6] The first time the Plaintiff was alerted to something amiss with respect to the land was sometime in 2003. Messrs A. Gnanarajah & Co was approached by Messrs Chan Yat Hee & Associates who in its letter of 5 August 2003 intimated that there was an interested purchaser for the said land who wished to execute a sale and purchase agreement with Palayam a/l Nagappan, the holder of a Power of Attorney dated 19 April 1996 ("PA") given by Madhu. However, Messrs A. Gnanarajah & Co was requested to first confirm the genuineness of the signature of Madhu on the said PA. A copy of the PA was attached to the letter.

[7] Messrs A. Gnanarajah & Co responded on behalf of the Plaintiff vide its letter dated 30 September 2003 to strongly dispute the contents of the PA. Upon the advice of her solicitors, the Plaintiff lodged a caveat on 27 January 2004. No further communication was made thereafter, the interested purchaser having presumably abandoned the intended purchase of the said land.

[8] In 2015, the Plaintiff's son (PW 2) came over from India to conduct a search on the said land at the land office of Petaling. T o his shock and dismay he found out that the said land had been transferred to several parties in succession. The Plaintiff allege that the transfers were done through a series of fraudulent and/or negligent acts on the part of the Defendants.

[9] In 2017, the Plaintiff and her other son authorized PW2 vide a Power of Attorney dated 21 January 2017 to take all necessary actions in respect of the said land. PW2 then lodged a police report on 24 January 2017 to state that his late father's land had been fraudulently transferred to third parties. The Plaintiff also did the same shortly thereafter.

[10] Pursuant to the police reports, investigations commenced. A Registrar's caveat was entered on the said land on 29 March 2017. The Registrar's caveat remains in place till today.

[11] The acts which led to the registration of the said land in the name of Wonderful Century Properties Sdn Bhd ("D3") ultimately, comprised of the following:

(a) the 1st Defendant ("D1") was granted an irrevocable PA by Madhu on 19 April 1994 to deal with the said land;

(b) using the PA, D1 then sold the said land to one Kannan a/l Periapayan ("Kannan") for a consideration sum of RM250,000.00. Parties parties executed a Form 14A dated 6 June 2008 which was prepared and witnessed by Tersaim Lall a/l Sadhu Ram ("D2"). The transfer was registered on 2 September 2008; and

(c) Four months after Kannan was registered as the proprietor, he executed a Form 14A in favour of Precious Nest Sdn Bhd on 30 October 2008. The cons