Introduction

Sarawak Securities Sdn Bhd the plaintiff in the court below and the respondent here, had sued Eric Chan Thiam Soon, the defendant/appellant, for a sum of RM78,873.50. But the cause of action was a matter of much argument not surprisingly when the relevant parts of the statement of claim are worded this way:

AMENDED STATEMENT OF CLAIM

1. The plaintiff ... is a member of ... (KLSE).

2. The defendant is an employee of the plaintiff ....

3. Sometime ... 26th day of May, 1994 whilst in the course of his employment with the plaintiff, the defendant executed Scrip Withdrawal Forms pertaining to the account of William Wong Tiing Ho ... and withdrew ... from the said (account the following shares):- (particulars given).

3. The aforesaid withdrawal was made without the knowledge and consent of the said William Wong.

4. Sometime. ...the 23rd day of December, 1996 the plaintiff received a letter ... from... William Wong stating that the scripts of the said shares were withdrawn from his acco