JUDGMENT

Shankar J

Along Jalan Bukit Bintang Kuala Lumpur is a well-known commercial/residential complex described as KL Plaza. This complex is built on a block of land which is made up of the land comprised in the documents of title CT No 17922 up to CT 17960 (inclusive) and CT No 13554 up to CT 13557 (inclusive). This land belonged to Lian Seng Properties Sdn Bhd ('Lian Seng'), the first defendant herein. To finance the development Lian Seng borrowed M$52m from Bank Bumiputra Malaysia Bhd and Bumiputra Merchant Bankers Bhd ('the bankers'). Twenty five million dollars of the loan was secured by two charges under the National Land Code both dated 14 May 1980. These two charges were in favour of Bank Bumiputra Malaysia Bhd. A further charge was executed over the land aforesaid on 6 June 1983 for $37m in favour of Bumiputra Merchant Bankers Bhd. The bankers therefore financed the entire building of the complex.

Central air-conditioning is an integral facility of this kind of complex. Just after mid-1985 four units of centrifugal liquid chillers together with condenser water pump-sets, cooling towers and condenser water pump-sets, air-handling units and a variety of ancillary equipment i