[1] When a cheque meant to be paid to a client of the plaintiffs bounced upon its presentation for encashment at the bank, the plaintiffs carried out an internal audit to see what had gone wrong, such that the plaintiffs had not been able to honour the amount stated in the said cheque. In the course of such exercise, the team of internal auditors had uncovered that an amount totaling about RM31 million from the plaintiffs' coffers had gone missing. That amount had been concerned with some 173 unauthorised transactions of four various types of non-compliances with internal procedures of the plaintiffs. These unauthorised transactions had happened within the period spanning June 2009-December 2010. It was also established by the auditors that one Assistant Manager, by the name of Tee Poh Kun, with the Finance Department of the 1st plaintiff had been putting his hands into the plaintiffs' proverbial cookie jar to fund his own personal activities and had since absconded. The plaintiffs had then initiated legal actions against persons, both natural and juridical, who the plaintiffs alleged, had played their respective part in the financial fiasco, in the plaintiffs' quest to retrieve th