A foreign judgment cannot be challenged on its merits in the registering court; it is presumed valid under the Reciprocal Enforcement of Judgments Act.

Introduction

[1] The Defendant filed a Notice of Application (encl 43) under O 67 r 9 and O 92 r 4 of the Rules of 2012 (ROC) and ss 3, 4 and 5 of the Reciprocal Enforcement of Judgments Act 1958 (REJA) to obtain the following orders and reliefs:

1.1. An Order that the Order at encl 8 to enforce the Foreign Judgment of the High Court of England and Wales dated 4 January 2021 to be set aside;

1.2. An Order that the Registration of the Order at encl 8 to enforce the Foreign Judgment of the High Court of England and Wales dated 4 January 2021 to be de-register;

1.3. Costs are made costs in the cause of action;

1.4. Any other relief that this Court deemed fit.

The Reasons For This Application

[2] The grounds of this application are as follows:

2.1. The Defendant while filing this Notice of Application simultaneously file an Application to Set Aside the Foreign Judgment dated 17 January 2020 in the High Court of England and Wales (UK Judgment).

2.2. The Defendant has merits defence to set aside the UK Judgment on the grounds of non-disclosure of material facts by the Plaintiff when the UK Judgment dated 17 January 2021 was granted:

a. The amount claimed by the Plaintiff is inconsistent with Defendant's invoices record;

b. Facts lead the alleged 1550 delivery in process amounting to RM341,147.00 shall not form part of the Plaintiff's claim;

c. The number of units for the products relied on by the Plaintiff is inconsistent;

d. The Plaintiff concealed the actual facts on the service fee.

2.3. The UK Judgment was contrary to Malaysia's public policy:

a. there is no clear confirmation or verification by the Ministry of Health Malaysia that permit the goods to be consumed by the public.

[3] In gist, the Defendant filed this Notice of Application (encl 43) to set aside the Order of this Court dated 4 January 2021 (Registration Order).

[4] The Registration Order was obtained by the Plaintiff for the registration of the UK Judgment. For ease of reference, the proceedings of Claim No CL-2019-000753 will hereinafter be referred to as the "UK Suit".

[5] After the hearing, I dismissed the Defendant's Application (Enclosure 43). This judgment contains the full reasons for my decision.

Background Facts

[6] The narration of the background facts herein is adopted with and/or without modification from the written submissions of both parties and can be summarized as follows.

[7] The Plaintiff is a Company and at all material times is incorporated and/or registered in the United Kingdom based on the concept of Limited Liability Partnership and is in the business of sale of goods/products from Russia.

[8] The Defendant is a Company incorporated under the Companies Act 1965 with a registered address at Unit 20-05, Level 20, Q Sentral 2A, Jalan Stesen Sentral 2, Kuala Lumpur Sentral, 50470 Kuala Lumpur and at all material times is in the business logistics at Malaysia.

[9] The Plaintiff filed a legal action against the Defendant in UK Suit. On 11 December 2019, the High Court of England and Wales granted Plaintiff permission to serve the Claim Form and Particulars of Claim dated 6 December 2019 (UK Particulars of Claim) out of the jurisdiction. (See UK Particulars of Claim on pp 47-54, Enclosure 53)

[10] On 16 December 2019, the Plaintiff had via its agent successfully served the Defendant a copy of the Claim Form and Particulars of Claim dated 6 December 2019, amongst others, by way of personal service.

(See page 35, encl 53)

[11] The Defendant did not take any steps to contest the UK Suit. As a result, the UK Judgment was granted on 17 January 2020.

(See