[1] In this action, the applicant seek to remove the private caveat registered by the respondent upon five pieces of land all located in Bandar Kuala Lumpur, District of Kuala Lumpur.

BACKGROUND

[2] The original proprietor of the lands was Maril-Rionebel (M) Sdn Bhd, which was wound up on 14 November 2000. The lands were charged to OCBC Bank (M) Bhd under two charges. After Maril-Rionebel been wound up, the official receiver from the Insolvency Department Malaysia had appointed as the provisional liquidator on behalf of Maril. The applicant herein purchased the said lands via a sale and purchase agreement dated 30 August 2005 between the applicant and the official receiver on behalf of Maril. The applicant was the highest bidder in a close tender offer with the purchase price of RM100,100,000. For this sale and purchase, the applicant has obtained approval from the Foreign Investment Committee (‘FIC’) on 21 November 2005. Following the said approval, pursuant to the term of the sale and purchase agreement, the applicant deposited to the official receiver a bank guarantee dated 21 December 2005, issued by Bumiputra Commerce Bank Bhd an amount of RM36,455,490.78. Later, a renewed bank guarantee dated 30 November 2006 issued by CIMB Bank was deposited to the official receiver.

[3] However, due to the private caveat lodged by Anafartalar Cadesi Sdn Bhd (a contributory shareholder) on 27 December 2004, and two private caveats thereafter lodged by Raju Jayaraman Kerpaya on 13 February 2006 and 22 March 2006 on the said lands, the sale and purchase was unable to be completed because the official receiver was unable to issue ‘completion notice’ to the applicant.

[4] Via a recent letter dated 29 May 2007, the official receiver extended the sale and purchase agreement to 30 November 2007 to enable the private [*697] caveats lodged upon the land to be removed and ‘completion notice’ to be issued.

PRIVATE CAVEATS

[5] One Raju Jayaraman Kerpaya (‘R Jayaraman’) lodged two private caveats upon the said lands. The private caveats were lodged by R Jayaraman on 13 February 2006 (‘Resp 1 caveat’) and 22 March 2006 (‘Resp 2 caveat’). The reason he lodged the said caveat is stated in Form 19B and statutory declaration. In the said statutory declaration, R Jayaraman stated that he was empowered by Siddennam Ltd to make the said admission. However, the applicant has made an official search about the company and found that the said company was incorporated in Hong Kong and its license has been revoked on 7 June 1996 pursuant to s 290A of the Companies Ordinance of Hong Kong (Cap 32).

[6] R Jayaraman was an ex-director of Maril-Rionebel and Anafatalar Caddesi Sdn Bhd. Anafartalar was a shareholder in Maril-Rionebel. Prior to lodging the two caveats, R Jayaraman had attempted to obstruct the execution of the said sale and purchase.

[7] The applicant submitted that the caveat lodged by Anafartalar on 27 December 2004 was a ruse by R Jayaraman and the reason in supporting the entry of the caveat was similar to the reason given by R Jayaraman at the time when he lodged his two caveats upon the said lands.

[8] Later the official receiver managed to obtain an order to remove Anafatalar’s caveat via an action in KLHC S6–24–2395 of 2005 (‘originating summons 1’). Thereafter, the official receiver once again made an application in KLHC via the S6–24–575 of 2006 (‘originating summons 2’) applying to remove R Jayaraman’s first caveat (‘Raju’s caveat 1’). Pending the disposal of S6–24–575 of 2006 hearing, the respondent herein, that is the solicitor acting on behalf of R Jayaraman lodged the second private caveat upon the said lands on 22 March 2006 (‘Raju’s caveat 2’). The respondent was also the solicitor representing R Jayaraman in the originating summons 2 action. The respondent was acting on the instructions of R Jayaraman, and subsequently lodged a private caveat upon the said lands on 25 April 2007 (‘respondent’s cavea