JUDGMENT

Mahadev Shankar JCA:

YK Fung Securities Sdn Bhd (the appellant - hereinafter 'the defendant') bought two blocks of shares from James Capel (Far East) Ltd ('the plaintiff'). The first block was for 6m shares in Grand United Holdings Bhd ('the GUH shares'). The second was for 5.88m shares in Growth Industrial Holdings Ltd ('the GIH shares'). The total purchase price was S$26,433,600 (the equivalent in ringgit then was over RM30m). When the time to pay and take delivery came, the defendant at first made a part payment and then refused to honour their bargain. The only reason given for this at the time by the defendant was that they did not have the money. On 28 May 1986, the plaintiff filed a writ in the High Court at Ipoh. Judgment was only delivered 9 1/2 years later. The defence was amended three times as the trial progressed. The fourth application to amend was refused. The trial was halted pending an appeal to the (then) Supreme Court which was dismissed. The trial (not counting the interlocutory applications) consumed 17 days. The trial judge ordered the defendant to pay up (see [1996] 2 MLJ 97). We dismissed the defendant's appeal. Our reasons now follow.

The backdrop