JUDGMENT

Faizah Jamaludin JCA:

Introduction

[1] This is an appeal by the Appellants against the decision of the learned High Court Judge on 30 August 2023 where he allowed the Respondent's application in encl 9 to strike out the pleadings in the Appellants' statement of claim ("SOC") under O 18 r 19(1)(a) and O 78 r 3 of the Rules of 2012 ("ROC 2012") on the basis that the pleadings did not disclose a reasonable cause of action.

Salient Facts

[2] At the material time, the 1st Appellant was the Construction Manager and the 2nd Appellant was the Managing Director of Poratha Corporation Sdn Bhd ("PCSB"). The Respondent was a Director of ATB Sdn Bhd ("ATB"). He was also the Trading and Marketing Manager of Vitol Trading Malaysia Ltd

[3] ATB and HQC Engineering Sdn Bhd ("HQC") entered into an agreement for the construction of the "ATB PU Project" at Tanjung Bin, Johor ("the Project"). ATB was the employer and HQC was the main contractor of the Project. PCSB was HQC's subcontractor for the Project.

[4] ATB and PCSB entered into a Letter of Undertaking dated 13 July 2021 ("LOU"), pursuant to which ATB undertook to underwrite HQC's payments to PCSB.

[5] On 24 November 2021, a meeting was held b