Judicial Commissioner Arziah Apandi said the appellant, Ranjit Singh, admitted that he had taken a temporary overdraft facility with Southern Bank Bhd (now known as CIMB), with an outstanding amount of RM128,087.

She said the credit information reflected by CDS was therefore accurate.

Arziah also said there was no evidence to support any allegation that the credit information was shared with third parties, adding that Ranjit was the only person who could access the “MyCTOS Score Report” .

“The elements of defamation were not made out. There was no negligence and breach of statutory duty by CDS.”

Arziah said under the Credit Reporting Agencies Act 2010, the credit information was accurate.

CDS, she said, had merely reproduced the credit information provided and lodged by CIMB to Bank Negara Malaysia (BNM), which was also reflected in the central bank’s Central Credit Reference Information System (CCRIS) report.

Ranjit’s claim at the sessions court was premised on allegedly inaccurate credit information provided and lodged by CIMB in CCRIS, which was reflected in the “Special Attentions Account” in his “MyCTOS Score Report”.

In his statement of claim, Ranjit said the credit information was inaccurate as he had never applied for any overdraft facility.

Ranjit claimed that the publication of such inaccurate credit information had damaged his reputation and caused him to incur losses.

Ashok Kandiah and Celinne Teh represented CDS while Azrul Haziq acted for Ranjit.

Early this month, the Court of Appeal overturned a High Court order requiring CTOS to pay a businesswoman RM200,000 over an inaccurate credit rating.