[3] The starting point is s. 351 of the Companies Act 1965 ("the Act") which confers a very wide discretion on the High court to order a company to provide security for costs in an action brought by it or indeed against it. But the discretion is not untrammeled. Nor is it unprincipled. For there are settled guidelines upon which the discretion falls to be exercised. First, the application for security for costs must be made with reasonable promptitude after the issue of the writ. Delay is a good reason for the court to exercise discretion against the parties applying for security. See Kejuruteraan Taipan (M) Sdn Bhd v. Loh & Loh Contruction Sdn Bhd, [2007] 1 MLJ 578 . Second, an order under s. 351 of the Act should generally not be made where the making of it would be oppressive. This is particularly so in a case where the company has an arguable case. See Gateway Land Pte Ltd v. Turner (East Asia) Pte Ltd . Thirdly, security for costs would not be ordered where there is absence of any mala fide on the part of the plaintiff company in bringing its claim. Special attention should be paid to the balance that should be drawn between exposing an innocent defendant to the expense of defending a claim against the risk of shutting out a plaintiff from ventilating a genuine grievance. See Quality Tractors (M) Sdn Bhd v. United Asian Bank Bhd .

[4] Turning to the facts of the present case, it is clear that the plaintiff company's action against the first set of defendants is based on their alleged breach of fiduciary duties and against the second set of defendants for their voluntarily assisting in such breach. The plaintiff's claim cannot by any stretch of imagination be described as frivolous and vexatious. Its answer to the application for security for costs is that it finds itself in a financially strained position, because of the defendants' acts and omissions. In these circumstances it would, in our judgment, be oppressive to require the plaintiff, the alleged victim of serious wrongs committed upon it, to be required to furnish security for costs in favour of those accused of having put it in the position in which it finds itself.