JUDGMENT

John Lee Kien How @ Mohd Johan Lee J:

(After Trial)

Introduction

[1] This is an action ("this Action"), where the Plaintiff sued to recovery his referral fee. In this Action, the Plaintiff premised on the existence of a concluded oral contract, under which the Plaintiff would introduce and procure the appointment of the Defendant as an engineering consultant in few projects, and the Defendant would pay the introducer/ referral fees as a return.

Brief Facts Of The Case

[2] The Plaintiff is a Mechanical and Electrical ("M&E") Engineering Consulting firm. The director and main shareholder of the Plaintiff is Ir. Gan Choon Hock ("Ir. Gan").

[3] The Defendant is a company that provides engineering consulting services, led by two directors and shareholders, namely Ir. Neng Ka Tack ("Ir. Alex Neng") and Ir. Chew Siang Meng ("Ir. Chew").

[4] In or about mid of 2010, the Plaintiff has introduced and referred the Defendant to Sunrise Berhad ("Sunrise"), the developer of a mixed development known as Solaris 3 (or Solaris Parq) at Lots 58688 & 58689, Changkat Hartamas, Kuala Lumpur ("the Project") to undertake M&E works in respect of the Project.

[5] The Plaintiff submitted the Defendant's company profile and contact numbers to Sunrise for consideration and had made firm recommendations to Sunrise for the Defendant to be appointed as their M&E consulting firm. The Plaintiff also assisted the Defendant in submitting the fee proposals and construction budgetary to Sunrise.

[6] Sometime between August 2010 to October 2010, the Defendant's Ir. Alex Neng and Ir. Chew met with Ir. Gan at Sunway Pyramid, Selangor and proposed that ("the Alleged Oral Contract"):

a) the Defendant undertakes the entire M&E works for the said Project inclusive of electrical works;

b) the Plaintiff be purely paid a referral fee at 30% of the total professional fees chargeable in relation to the contract sum awarded and be paid to Ir. Gan instead of the Plaintiff;

c) payment to Ir. Gan be made within 30 days upon the Defendant being paid by the employer of the Project;and

d) the Defendant shall inform Ir. Gan/the Plaintiff each time payment of their progress fee is made by the employer as the M&E Works for the Project was now being taken up by the Defendant entirely.

[7] The Plaintiff and Ir. Gan agreed to the aforesaid proposals and prepared the draft agreement and Board of Directors resolution for the Defendant's perusal and forwarded the Draft Referral Agreement ("Draft Referral Agreement") via email on 11 November 2010.

[8] On 11 December 2010, the Defendant was successful in their bid to be appointed as the lead M&E Consultant firm for the Project wherein Sunrise through their wholly owned subsidiary, Ibarat Duta Sdn Bhd ("Ibarat Duta") awarded the said contract to the Defendant for the sum of RM3,300,000.00 ("LA 2010") based on the Plaintiff's referral and assistance.

[9] The Plaintiff averred that the Plaintiff, through Ir. Gan, was an integral part in securing the award to the Defendant and had provided the Defendant with technical and administrative assistance.

[10] Upon receipt of their first progress claim from Ibarat Duta, the Defendant through Ir. Alex Neng informed Ir. Gan of the same and indicated the manner in which the Plaintiff should prepare their invoice to the Defendant in relation to the 30% referral fee based on the professional fee received.

[11] The Plaintiff thereafter duly submitted their invoice no: S3/1 dated 1 December 2011 in the sum of RM42,456.15 to the Defendant vide letter dated 1 December 2011.

[12] On or about 30 January 2012, the Defendant paid the Plaintiff the said sum of RM42,456.15 vide HLBB cheque no: 372852 ("the Cheque") being 30% of the first progress payment received from the employer, Ibarat Duta in the amount of RM141,520.50.

[13] The Plaintiff premised that the Defendant's LA 2010 with Ibarat Duta was RM3,330,000.00. This was when Beca Carter Hollings & Ferner (SE Asia) Pte Ltd (a Singapore based company) ("Beca Carter") was still