In liquidation proceedings, the appointment of a liquidator must prioritize impartiality and the interests of all creditors, even if majority opinions are considered.

[1] There are three separate applications under s 227 of the Companies Act 1965 by three applicants before the court whereby each application seeks to nominate person/persons as liquidator to take over the liquidation of the wound up respondent company from the Official Receiver. The respective applications are as follows:

1.1 Enclosure 227 - notice of motion dated 10 June 2011 filed by Equiticorp Holdings Ltd (In Statutory Management) and Equiticorp Financial Services Ltd (In Statutory Management) for, amongst other things, an order that one Robert Teo Keng Tuan of RSM NWT Advisory Services Sdn Bhd be appointed as liquidator of the respondent;

1.2 Enclosure 234 - notice of motion dated 26 August 2011 filed by Cheah Theam Kheng for, amongst other things, an order that one Augustine a/l James of Radiant Consulting Asia Sdn Bhd be appointed as liquidator of the respondent;

1.3 Enclosure 258 - notice of motion dated 20 January 2012 filed by UOB 2006 Nominees (Tempatan) Sdn Bhd ("UOB Nominees") for, amongst other things, an order that one Dato' Gan Ah Tee and one Mok Chew Yin of BDO Consulting Sdn Bhd be appointed jointly and/or severally as the provisional liquidators or liquidators of the respondent.

Brief Facts

[2] The respondent company was ordered to be wound up on 25 April 2000. Subsequently, by order of the court on 26 July 2001, one Chuah Seong Phaik was appointed as liquidator of the respondent company to act with a Committee of Inspection.

[3] It is not in dispute that the respondent company's only valuable assets are 16 parcels of land located in Kuala Lumpur. On 9 January 2007, the then liquidator, Chuah Seong Phaik sold the properties to North Plaza Sdn Bhd at RM158 million. As the sale was conditional on the approval of the court, he filed an application on 10 January 2007 for the court's approval. The sale was opposed but the court allowed the application on 21 December 2009. On appeal to the court of Appeal, the order of the High court was set aside. This decision of the court of Appeal was affirmed by the Federal court.

[4] Subsequently, an application was made by Cheah Theam Keng to the High court for the removal of Chuah Seong Phaik as liquidator. The application was allowed on 31 October 2011 by the court and the Official Receiver was appointed as liquidator.

[5] Pursuant to that appointment, the Official Receiver called for a separate meeting of creditors and contributors in order to determine the wishes of the parties as to whether an application should be made to court for a liquidator to be appointed. As a result, the Official Receiver's report dated 5 April 2012 was released and this can be seen in the affidavit affirmed by Wong Dan Yi as solicitor of the applicant in encl 258 on 7 March 2013 (exh 'WDY1'). The report showed that separate meetings of the creditors and contributors were held on 28 March 2012. The creditors voted as follows:

(a) For the appointment of Augustine a/l James:

(i) Total votes: 16

(ii) Total value of claim: RM18,447,758.49

(b) For the appointment of Dato' Gan Ah Tee and Mok Chew Yin:

(i) Total votes: 1

(ii) Total value of claim: RM4,543,623.20

(c) For the appointment of Robert Teo Keng Tuan:

(i) Total votes: 3

(ii) Total value of claim: RM7,291,766.77

(d) For the Official Receiver to remain as liquidator:

(i) Total votes: 0

(e) Creditors who elected not to vote:

(i) Total: 1

(ii) Total value of claim: RM5,468,573.71

(f) Creditors who were absent:

(i) Total: 7

(ii) Total value of claim: RM7,083,006.62.

[6] As for the votes of the contributories, there was only one vote by the contributory having a 100% share value in favour of Dato'