JUDGMENT

Abdul Malik Ishak J:

Brief Background

The plaintiff has been described as a company incorporated in Malaysia and is said to be an associate of the Safuan Holdings group of companies. The defendant too has been described to be a company incorporated in Malaysia and is said to be a subsidiary of Damansara Realty Sdn Bhd which is listed on the main board of the Kuala Lumpur Stock Exchange.

By a management agreement dated 15 September 1991, the parties agreed that the plaintiff would manage and operate a hotel known as the Regency Hotel and Resort, Port Dickson which belonged to the defendant. The management agreement described the defendant as the owner while the plaintiff has been described as the manager. The management agreement was to subsist for ten (10) years with an option to the plaintiff to extend for a further ten (10) years and under the said agreement the plaintiff would be paid a management fee of 3% out of the total annual revenue. Under the management agreement the plaintiff was to have an uninterrupted control and operation of the hotel and the defendant agreed not to interfere with the day to day running of the hotel.

It was said that in breach of the terms of the management agreement, the defendant had failed and/or neglected to pay the plaintiff its management fees from October 1995. It was said that the unpaid management fees as at 31 December 1996 amounted to a sum of RM348,582.43. By letter dated 26 November 1996, the defendant was said to have wrongfully and unlawfully terminated the management agreement.

The parties were certainly at loggerheads. To make matters worse the parties were engaged in a litigation vide Kuala Lumpur High Court suit no: D2-22-67-96 where the parties were asserting competing claims over the said hotel.

It was said that the defendant had refused to facilitate payments that were required to be made by the hotel and that included payments for staff salaries and operating expenses pending the determination of the contractual dispute between the parties relating to the exercise of an option clause to extend the management agreement for a further ten (10) years.

Ex parte Applications

There were two ex parte applications. One by the plaintiff in encl. 4 and the other by the defendant in encl. 10. I shall now elaborate.

On 6 December 2001, the plaintiff filed an ex parte summons in chambers and sought for the following prayers as seen in encl. 4:

1. The Defendant whether by its agents, servants, officers or howsoever, be restrained from interfering with or obstructing or hampering the Plaintiffs continued management and operation of The Regency Hotel and Resort, Port Dickson ('the Hotel");

2. The Defendant within 2 days of service of this order, whether by its agents, servants, officers or howsoever, including by way of signing cheques or issuing instructions, do all things as may be necessary to pay, authorise, or ensure payment of wages, allowances or contractual dues owing to or arising in respect of all persons working at the Hotel for the period November 2001 as specified in SCHEDULE A herein out of the funds generated by the operations of the Hotel including funds in Bumiputra Commerce Bank Account No. 05080007490051 and The Standard Chartered Bank Account No. 836144611102 ("the accounts"), and for subsequent months to pay, authorise or ensure payment from the funds as aforesaid in accordance with such lists of staff or employees as may be submitted by the Plaintiff to the Defendant within 7 days of receipt of such submission;

3. The Defendant within 2 days of service of this order, whether by agents, servants, officers or howsoever, do all things as may be necessary to pay, authorise or ensure payment of outstanding amounts due to suppliers and creditors as specified in SCHEDULE B herein, out of the funds generated by the operations of the Hotel including funds in the accounts and to hereafter pay, authorise or ensure payment from the funds as aforesaid in accordance with s