Gopal Sri Ram JCA:

[1]The defendant owns a 3/4 undivided share in a piece of land. The land is in Labuan. His co-proprietor is one Monica Goh. She owns the other 1/4 share. She is not a party to these proceedings. The plaintiff and Monica Goh by their mutual agreement notionally demarcated their respective shares in the subject land. I say "notional" because there was no actual subdivision until January 1991. As for his 3/4 portion of the subject land, the defendant prepared a plan dividing it into 3 sections. The defendant wanted to develop only one of these three sections. He entered into a joint venture agreement with the plaintiff, a housing developer, to carry out the development. That agreement is dated 31 December 1980. Under the terms of the joint venture agreement, the plaintiff was to construct several units of houses at its own cost on the defendant's land and the defendant was to receive a portion of those units.

[2]The defendant also executed a power of attorney in the plaintiff's favour. It is also dated 31 December 1980. By its terms the defendant conferred on the plaintiff wide powers to deal with the land. Let me give an example that is of immediate relev