Garnishee orders attach only debts existing at the time of service, excluding subsequent amounts credited to the debtor's account, affirming the principle of freezing the amount as of the order's service.

[1] It has always been understood that when a Garnishee Order to Show Cause ("GOTSC") is issued and served on a Garnishee at the instance of a Judgment Creditor ("JC"), the sum outstanding from the Garnishee to the Judgment Debtor ("JD") is frozen, such that once the GOTSC is made absolute, the amount garnished and now made absolute, shall be paid out to the JC.

[2] However, in this case the JC argued that the amount owing from the Garnishee to the JD need not be limited to the amount outstanding as at the date of the service of the GOTSC on the Garnishee, but that it also would include all sums subsequently owing by the Garnishee to the JD.

[3] More importantly, in the case of a current account opened by the JD with the Garnishee Bank, all amounts paid into the JD's account with the Bank from the date of the service of the GOTSC on the Garnishee up to the date the Garnishee Order Absolute ("GOA") would be frozen and attached for the benefit of the JC.

[4] Apparently, the basis for the argument of the JC, which found favour with the High Court, is that there is a significant difference between the relevant preposition used in our Rules of Court 2012 ("ROC") as compared to that used in the present Civil Procedure Rules ("CPR") of the UK Courts. The difference, the JC argued, is the difference between "from" in "from the service of the order on him" in O 49 r 3 ROC and "at" in Part 72.6 of the CPR in "the amount of the balance at the date it was served with the order."

At The Sessions Court

[5] The JC, Energypeak FZE, had obtained summary judgment against the JD, Infinity Global Palm Oil Sdn Bhd, for the sum of RM208,051.20 with interest thereon at the rate of 5% per annum from 30 January 2020 to the date of full settlement and costs of RM3,000.00 ("the Judgment Sum").

[6] As allowed under the ROC, the JC filed an ex parte application to garnish the Judgment Sum of RM224,304.87 as at 7 May 2021 from any of the JD's account(s) maintained with the Garnishee Bank, Affin Bank Berhad. As required under O 49 r 2(a) ROC, the JC/Applicant in the GOTSC must quantify the amount to be garnished as at the date of the said application.

[7] The JC served the GOTSC dated 31 May 2021 on the Garnishee Bank on 21 June 2021. On 23 June 2021, the Garnishee replied to the JC's solicitors stating that the JD has an account with them with a credit balance of RM9.81 and so this amount was 'attached" until further order that the Sessions Court may make in the GOA.

[8] The direction of the Court for the Garnishee to "show cause" by filing an affidavit was duly communicated by the JC's solicitors to the Garnishee. The Garnishee Ba