[1] Lembaga Pembangunan Industri Pembinaan Malaysia (the appellant) is a statutory body established under the Lembaga Pembangunan Industri Pembinaan Malaysia Act 1994 (the Act). The Act in brief, empowers the appellant to be a one stop body to promote, and stimulate the development and improvement and expansion of the construction industry in Malaysia. The statutory powers and many functions of the appellant are laid down in ss 3 and 4(1) of the Act. For clarification, hereinafter any section mentioned in this ground of judgment refers to the section of the Act, unless stated otherwise.

[2] Under s 34(2), the appellant is authorised to impose on every registered contractor (but before the commencement of any construction works having a contract sum of above RM 500,000) a levy of a quarter per centum of the contract sum. That levy is funneled to a fund set up under s 15 to enable the appellant to discharge its functions pursuant to the Act.

[3] 'Contract sum', as legislated under s 34(2), is defined under subsection (8) of s 34 to mean "the consideration for a contract in respect of any construction works". "Construction works" is defined in s 2 as follows:

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