GROUNDS OF JUDGMENT

The Plaintiff is a company with its core business is the publishing of educational books for the Malaysian market under the label of "Longman". All the Defendants are the former employees of the Plaintiff with the 1st Defendant as its Managing Director in Malaysia and Singapore, the 2nd Defendant as the Senior Sales Executive and the 3rd Defendant as the Publishing Manager respectively. The Plaintiff's cause of action against the Defendants are for the wrongful acts allegedly committed while they were in the employ of the Plaintiff, which had caused severe loss and damage to the Plaintiff.

The Plaintiff's Claim

The Plaintiff's claim as pleaded in paragraph 28 of the statement of claim are as follows:

(a) A declaration that the Defendants have breached the duty of good faith and fidelity as well as contractual duties owed to the Plaintiff;

(b) A declaration that the 1st Defendant had breached the fiduciary duty and statutory duty owed to the Plaintiff;

(c) The sum of RM2,464,778.28 from the 1st and 2nd Defendants jointly and severally being losses as a result of the wrongful selling;

(d) The sum of RM260,840.26 from the 2nd Defendant being loss of profits of sale of books at cost price and cost of books unlawfully removed;

(e) The sum of RM52,000.00 from the 3rd Defendant being losses suffered as a result of overpayment;

(f) As against the 2nd and 3rd Defendants general damages for breach of good faith and fidelity to be assessed by this Honourable Court;

(g) As against the 1st Defendant general damages for breach of fiduciary duties and statutory duties to be assessed by this Honourable Court;

(h) Interests at the rate of 8% per annum of the total sum to be paid by the Defendants to the Plaintiff as referred to here before in paragraph (iii), (iv), (v), (vi) and (vii) above, to be computed from the date of filing of this writ until the date of full settlement thereof;

(i) Costs.

Wrongful Acts Allegedly Committed

The various wrongful acts allegedly committed by the Defendants are as follows:

(a) Wrongful Selling

As pleaded in paragraph 9 to 14 of the Statement of Claim, there are three aspects to this claim, namely:

(i) That during the period of November 2004 until May 2005, the 1st and/or 2nd Defendant, either on their own accord or in collaboration with one another, had delivered or given instructions for delivery to certain booksellers, books and stocks that had not been ordered by the said booksellers. This was contrary to the practice and procedure within the Plaintiff's Company.

(ii) That the 1st and 2nd Defendant had given assurance and guarantees to the said booksellers that the Plaintiff would absorb the cost of the freight incurred in returning the said stock and books which had not been ordered.

(iii) That the 2nd Defendant had sold or caused to be sold books to Johor Central Store Sdn Bhd at cost price without authority and/or sanction of the Plaintiff and in breach of the standard practices and procedure of the Plaintiff.

(b) Forgery Of Documents And Theft Committed By The 2nd Defendant

Under paragraph 15 to 17 of the Statement of Claim, the Plaintiff claims that the 2nd Defendant had handed a forged letter dated 21.12.2003 purporting the same to be from one Pustaka Pelajaran Harmonis. The Plaintiff claims that the 2nd Defendant had forged the signature and the official chop of Pustaka Pelajaran Harmonis and that the 2nd Defendant had unlawfully taken 3 titles returned by the said Pustaka Pelajaran Harmonis valued at RM3,320.10.

(c) Destruction Of The Plaintiff's Property

Under paragraph 18 to 19 of the Statement of Claim, the Plaintiff claims that the 1st Defendant had unlawfully and without due justification instructed the destruction of documents and records belonging to the Plaintiff.

In addition, the Plaintiff also claim that the 1st Defendant, together with the assistance of the 2nd and 3rd Defendant had removed or caused to be removed confidential tender documents and sample books belonging to the Plaintiff.

(d)