JUDGMENT

Edgar Joseph Jr J:

At the conclusion of the arguments last Saturday I allowed this appeal and indicated that I would give my reasons later which I hereby do.

In the Sessions Court at Ipoh, the appellant a retired Deputy Superintendent of Police sued the respondent, a businessman, for the return of a sum of RM6,000 which he claimed he had paid the respondent as a deposit under a Sale and Purchase agreement dated 3 January 1979 (the agreement), for the purchase of a terrace house, being No. 43, Jalan Hassan, Lim Garden, Ipoh, Perak (the property), the total purchase price being RM25,000. The appellant alleged that in breach of the agreement the respondent had transferred the property to one Chung Ah King.

By his defence, the respondent denied both the execution of the agreement and the receipt of the deposit. The respondent further contended that he was absent from Malaysia from 17 November 1978 until 22 January 1979 and could not therefore have entered into the transaction concerned with the appellant in Ipoh on 3 January 1979. He, however, admitted that he had sold the property to Mr. Chung Ah King.

I have an observation to make regarding the respondent's defence. On the f