Raja Azlan Shah CJ (Malaya) (delivering the judgment of the Court):

On 6 June 1974 the respondent obtained judgment against the first appellant in the sum of $95,611.34. It lay unsatisfied. Only $1,906 was recovered by garnishment. Execution proceedings by way of judgment debtor summons were taken but proved abortive. On 1 June 1973 the first appellant had entered into a sale agreement for the purchase of a piece of land in Petaling Jaya measuring 1,540 sq ft ("the said land") for $15,000 and had paid a deposit of $5,000. The sale agreement stipulated a transfer to the first appellant or its nominee or nominees, the usual conveyancing phrase. On 3 March 1975 the Court approved the sale. On 13 October 1975 the said land was registered in the names of the second and third appellants, the directors of the first appellant, in equal half shares.

On 12 April 1976, the respondent brought an action against all three appellants and another director claiming, inter alia,a declaration that the said land is the property of the first appellant against which the judgment might be executed.

The first appellant entered a defence denying ownership of the said land. It admitted entering i