A trustee's duty to account to the beneficiary and provide detailed information about trust property is essential in trust law.

[1] Pursuant to a Trust Deed dated 19 June 2015 executed by the Defendant ("the Trust Deed"), the Defendant agreed to act as a Trustee for the Plaintiff in respect of credit facilities amounting to RM 35 million ("Credit Facilities") that was obtained from Malayan Banking Berhad ("Maybank").

[2] The Plaintiff provided an amount of RM 14,695,588.15 in a fixed deposit account opened in the name of the Defendant ("Pledged Fixed Deposit") which was pledged to Maybank to secure the Credit Facilities.

[3] Under the Trust Deed, the Defendant agreed to utilise the Credit Facilities to invest in, purchase, sell, trade in securities listed on Bursa Malaysia Securities Berhad or on other stock exchanges approved by Maybank ("Investments/Assets") and to hold the Investments/Assets in trust for the Plaintiff.

[4] Under cl 1 (E) of the Trust Deed, it is provided that:

The Trustee shall hold and deal with the Assets in the interest of the Beneficiary, whether on a secured or unsecured basis, the trading of Assets and to enter into any financial transactions and discretionary Assets management, making and receiving payments for sale and purchase of Assets, and shall submit quarterly reporting update on the Assets management and net position of the Assets in an aggregate basis to the Beneficiary and for audit purpose.

[Emphasis added]

[5] Pursuant to the said cl 1 (E), on 13 March 2018, the Plaintiff through its solicitors, wrote to the Defendant seeking an account under the Trust Deed. In particular, the Plaintiff wanted the Defendant to:

(a) provide all documents pertaining to Credit Facilities obtained from Maybank;

(b) confirm that the Credit Facilities were utilised solely to finance the purchase of investments and or assets solely for and on behalf of the Plaintiff;

(c) confirm that the Pledged Fixed Deposit remains pledged to Maybank;

(d) provide all the contracts for the sale and or purchase of the investments and or assets utilising the Credit Facilities;

(e) in the absence of any written contracts, to provide details of the date for the share disposal/acquisition, consideration received/paid, particulars of the purchaser(s)/vendor(s), method and evidence of payment;

(f) in the event the counter parties or purchasers/vendors are companies or corporate entities, then to provide copies of board or shareholders resolutions of the purchasers/vendors;

(g) to confirm and to provide all documentary evidence to show that all payments, if any, received by the Defendant as Trustee have been fully accounted by the Defendant to the Plaintiff

(h) to confirm that save for Maybanks interest, the investments and or assets are otherwise unencumbered; and

(i) to confirm the current amount owing to Maybank.

[6] In response, the Defendant stated that he had made a request to Maybank for the relevant documents and at the same time sought to engage the Plaintiff to work out the framework of moving forward which included the issues pertaining to his retirement and or termination of the Credit Facilities and to be exonerated from any further liability to Maybank.

[7] The Defendant later forwarded to the Plaintiff copies of Maybank statements for the share trading account nO 514495683808 for the period from 16 December 2014 to 28 February 2018. Particulars of the investments as set out in the Maybank Statements were also provided. The Maybank statements for March to September 2018 and January to February 2019 were also given subsequently.

[8] When the Plaintiff registered its dissatisfaction with the mere provision of the Maybank statements without any explanations and not in an aggregate basis as required under the Trust Deed, the Defendant sought to justify his action by stating that:

(a) he had already provided the Maybank statements for the periods made available to him by Maybank;

(b) the Plaintiff had always been aware of