Shaik Daud Ismail JCA:

I have had the opportunity of reading in draft both the judgments of Siti Norma Yaakob JCA and Ahmad Fairuz bin Dato' Sheikh Abd Halim JCA and I concur with their conclusions that the appeal be allowed with costs, however, I associate myself with the comprehensive judgment of Siti Norma Yaakob JCA.

Siti Norma Yaakob JCA:

This appeal had been allowed with costs and I now give the reasons how that decision was arrived at.

In 1990, the respondent, a Japanese national and the plaintiff in the court below, came to this country to seek his fortune. He invested in the property market and for this purpose he entered into two sale and purchase agreements both dated 19 January 1990.

The first (the land sale agreement) was with the third appellant, a company owned and controlled by the first and second appellants who are husband and wife. As the registered proprietor of two adjoining pieces of land in Jalan Bukit Bintang, Kuala Lumpur, the third appellant who was also the third defendant in the court below, agreed to sell the properties together with a double-storey shophouse erected thereon, free from encumbrances and with vacant possession, to the responde