Mohd Hishamudin JCA

[1]This is an appeal from the decision of the learned judge of the High Court Kuala Lumpur (Civil Division) who, on 20 August 2008, vide two separate orders in an originating summons action before him for the removal of caveats pursuant to s 327 of the National Land Code (‘the NLC’):

(a)had allowed the plaintiff’s (now the respondent before us) application to remove the caveats; and

(b)had dismissed the defendant’s (now the appellant before us) application (via encl 7 in the said originating summons, but heard together with the originating summons) for security for costs.

[2]We have allowed the appeal with costs. We now give the grounds of our decision.

[3]The material facts are not disputed. A company called City Centre Sdn Bhd (‘CCSB’) is the registered owner of several parcels of land in the district of Kuala Lumpur.

[4]The respondent/plaintiff was at one time the sole shareholder of CCSB. It owned 100% of the shares in CCSB. The respondent applied for and obtained a loan from a bank known as Overseas Union Bank (‘OUB’). As a security for the loan, the plaintiff pledged all its shares in CCSB to OUB. The shares, having been pledged, were then registered in the name