Justice Ong Chee Kwan, delivering the unanimous decision, said the High Court committed no error in concluding that the instruments the appellants relied on for the transfer, including the power of attorney and settlement agreement, were forgeries.
“While the law presumes that a duly authenticated power of attorney is valid, the respondent successfully rebutted that presumption through both direct and circumstantial evidence,” he said in the judgment.
He said the appellants also failed to produce the original documents and material witnesses to support their case.
Justices Azman Abdullah, the bench chairman, and Ahmad Kamal Shahid also heard the appeal.
The respondent, former engineer Lim Peng Khoon, who was the plaintiff in the High Court, filed his claim in 2018 seeking orders and declarations for the return of lands fraudulently transferred from him.
Lim named Tea Chun Hia and her sons, Lee Chee Khoon, Lee Hui Khoon and Lee Wooi Khong, as the defendants.
He also sued the director of the Perak land and mines office, the state registrar of land titles, and the Kerian land administrator for negligence and breach of statutory duty. However, they did not appeal.
Lim alleged that Tea and her sons defrauded him of the land, while the state land authorities acted negligently and in breach of their statutory duties, thereby facilitating the fraudulent transfer of the properties.
Tea and her sons appealed to the Court of Appeal, challenging both the procedural propriety of the proceedings leading to the delivery of the judgment and several aspects of the High Court’s findings on the law and evidence.
The appellants also challenged the validity of the High Court judgment on grounds that Hui Khoon had been declared bankrupt before the decision was delivered in 2023.
They further disputed the proper approach to the burden of proof concerning the authenticity of the power of attorney.
Ong said the appeal primarily concerned proprietary rights, specifically whether the land transfers and supporting documents were valid, rather than the recovery of a debt.
“As such, the High Court was entitled to deliver its judgment without prior leave of the bankruptcy court, although enforcement of any monetary award would still require such leave,” he said.
Ong ordered the appellants to pay Lim a total of RM88,000 in costs. The assessment of damages has been remitted to the High Court in Ipoh.
Lawyers Nicholas Kow, Emile Ezra Hussain and Nur Amelia Izlyn Azhari appeared for the appellants, while the respondent was represented by Karin Lim, A Suppiah and Nicholas Lim.