Azmi Abdullah J:

JUDGMENT

Introduction

[1]This case involves a fraudulent sale and purchase transaction of a piece of land situated in Selangor. In the original action, the fraudulent transaction was orchestrated by a fraudster who impersonated himself as the real owner of the land. The plaintiffs were the victims of this unscrupulous scam which resulted in them losing RM1.5 million to the fraudster who remains at large.

[2]The subject land in this suit is a piece of land held under Geran No. Hakmilik 47504, Lot No. 7645, Mukim Kajang, Daerah Ulu Langat, Negeri Selangor (“the Land”). Hee Yan Choong (“Hee”), the 2^nd defendant in the original action, was the registered proprietor of the Land. Somewhere in November 2015, a fraudster who impersonated himself as Hee and armed with a fake Issue Document of Title (“IDT”) of the Land fraudulently peddled the Land to the plaintiffs for a purchase consideration of RM1.8 million. The plaintiffs parted with a total sum of RM1.5 million as part purchase price to the fraudster. Before the completion of the sale, on 29.12.2015 the Land was ‘hijacked’ and fraudulently transferred to Lee Chee Boon (“Lee”), the 1^st defendant in the original action who is now the registered proprietor.

[3]Hee came to Court and denied that he had ever entered into any agreement to sell the Land to the plaintiffs or to Lee. Hee’s case is that the Land was stolen from him without any doing or knowledge on his part with him being totally unaware of the whole transaction.

[4]The plaintiffs brought this action to inter alia recover the loss suffered. Hee counterclaimed to recover his Land from Lee. Two fake IDTs were used to carry out the frauds against the plaintiffs and Hee.

[5]The parties will be referred to as in their original position in the original action unless otherwise expressly stated. The case proceeded to a full trial for seventeen (17) days which took place on 7.1.2019, 13.2.2019, 14.2.2019, 19.3.2019, 10.4.2019, 11.4.2019, 29.5.2019, 13.6.2019, 9.7.2019, 26.8.2019, 27.8.2019, 28.8.2019, 10.9.2020, 25.5.2021, 31.5.2021, 21.9.2021 and 27.9.2021 with twenty-three (23) witnesses testifying at the trial.

[6]All documents tendered at trial are Part B documents except for item 7 in C, pp. 14-23, i.e. the payment vouchers, which were collectively identified as “IDD-3”.

[7]On 19.3.2019, the litigation between the plaintiffs and Hee was resolved whereby the plaintiffs withdrew their claim against Hee and consented to Hee’s counterclaim in prayers 48.16 and 48.17 with no order as to cost.

Material facts

[8]It is an undisputed fact that the Land in this matter originally belonged to Hee. Hee received the transfer of the Land from his older sister, Hee Chan Yin on or about 22.7.1981. To date, Hee still has in his possession the original IDT to the Land. It is Version 2, dated 9.8.2011 bearing Serial No. SDE 0786827 (“IDT V2”). The original IDT V2 was produced at the trial.

[9]The Land is now registered in the name of Lee. The transfer took place on 29.12.2015. As a result of the transfer, an IDT Version 3 dated 29.12.2015 was issued to Lee (“Lee’s Title”). It is not in dispute that Lee’s Title is the latest IDT of the Land.

[10]Prior to the transfer, around November 2015, the 1^st plaintiff Ooh (SP(1)), a businessman and his wife Ng Yah Ling (“Ng”) (SP(3)), a chartered accountant and registered company secretary, were informed by a friend that the Land was for sale. They invited their business partner, Goh Boon Leong (“Boon Leong”)(SP(4)) who is in the business of property development, to explore the matter together. Boon Leong is the father of the 2^nd plaintiff Goh (SP(5)). Boon Leong went to survey the Land and he estimated the Land to be worth around RM3 to 4 million at the material time. They then decided to meet up with the purported vendor Hee to discuss the matter further.

[11]The meeting took place in the morning of 13.11.2015 at Bukit Mertajam, Penang. The purported Hee together with Hasra (SD(3)), a lawyer purportedly a