The plaintiff must prove meter tampering to recover losses under the Electricity Supply Act; indemnity clauses in leases bind third parties to compensate owners for damages.

[1] This was an appeal from the decision of the Sessions Court where Tenaga Nasional Bhd who was the plaintiff in the Court below, sued the appellant/defendant as the owner of the premises for tampering with the electric meter. The appellant/defendant brought in the respondent as a third party in the suit since he was the tenant of the said premises at the time. The sessions Court judge had dismissed Tenaga's and the appellant's claim. On appeal to the High Court, I allowed the claim by TNB and the appellant. There were two appeals filed in relation to this matter, the first was by the plaintiff TNB vide case no JA-12BNCvC-16-05/2021 and the second was by the appellant/defendant vide case no JA-12BNCvC-15-05/2021. Both the appeals were heard together and the claim by TNB and the appellant were allowed with costs of RM 5000.00 and allocatur fees.

The respondent now appeals further to the Court of Appeal. As of the date of this judgment, there was no appeal filed in case no JA-12BNCvC-16-05/2021.

[2] The facts of the case as can be gleaned from the submissions of the appellant/defendant is as follows:

"A. SALIENT FACTS OF THE CASE

i. At all material times, the Defendant is the registered proprietor of the lands bearing the title numbers Geran Mukim 144 Lot 50727, HS(D) 260265 PTD 147017, Geran Mukim 145 Lot 50729, HS(D) 260264 PTD 147016, HS(D) 260266 PTD 147018 (later known as HS(D) 530623 PTD 200073, HS(D) 530624 PTD 200074, and HS(D) 530626 PTD 200076), all of which are within Mukim of Plentong, District of Johor Bahru, State of Johor and bearing the postal address of Golf Course, Jalan Permas Selatan, Bandar Permas Jaya, 81750 Masai, Johor ("the said Premises").

ii. The Defendant owns an electricity supply user account with the number 03450061760501 ("the said Account") for the said Premises.

iii. From 1 July 209 to 31 March 2016 ("the said Tenancy Period"), the Defendant had rented the said Premises to the Third Party via lease exempt from registration dated 24 August 2009 signed by the Defendant and the Third Party, letter dated 29 June 2011, lease exempt from registration dated 7 September 2012 signed by the Defendant and the Third Party, letter dated 2 May 2013 signed by the Defendant and the Third Party, lease exempt from registration dated 20 July 2014 signed by the Defendant and the Third Party and letter dated 4 June 2015 signed by the Defendant and the Third Party.

iv. On 25 February 2016, the Defendant received "Surat Tuntutan Bagi Amaun Kerugian Hasil (Terkurang Caj) Dan Perbelanjaan Akibat Mengganggu / Mengubahpinda / Merosakkan Pepasangan Meter Tenaga Nasional Berhad" dated 24.2016 from the Plaintiff claiming that the Plaintiff had performed an inspection on the meter installation / meter in the said Premises on 14 October 2014 ("the Alleged Inspection") (which is denied) and discovered elements of interference / alteration / damage on the meter installation / meter and that had caused failure to record the actual output or consumption of electricity by the meter installation / meter (which is denied) ("the Alleged Meter Tampering") and thereafter claimed from the Defendant as the registered owner of the said Account a total sum of RM126,033.23 being the loss of revenue calculating from 1 December 2011 to 14 October 2014 and the rectification costs (which is denied).

v. Neither the Defendant nor the Defendant's representative was notified to be present during the Alleged Inspection (which is denied).

vi. After having received Exhibit P3, on 1 March 2016, the Defendant served a reply letter dated 1 March 2016 to the Plaintiff, wherein the D