HONG LEONG BANK BERHAD v 1. ) HARBAN SINGH A/L MULA SINGH 2. ) DATIN JAMILAH BIBI BTE A. ABDUL MAJEED

Case Significance

Illustrates the conclusive effect of a certificate of indebtedness in a lending claim, and confirms that a curable procedural irregularity in filing an amended pleading, causing no prejudice, will not bar summary judgment on an admitted debt.

This High Court decision at Shah Alam concerns an application by a bank for summary judgment against defaulting borrowers, and the treatment of a procedural irregularity in the late filing of an amended pleading. The bank sued on a RM4 million loan facility evidenced by a letter of offer and a facility agreement, and obtained summary judgment for a sum in excess of RM2.1 million with contractual interest and costs. Because the individual defendants are natural persons named only as borrowers, this analysis refers to them by that role, while the bank is identified by name.

On the substance, the court applied the settled principles governing lending claims. The defendants had admitted the debt, and the bank relied on a certificate of indebtedness, which the loan documents made conclusive proof of the sum due. The defendants' attempts to resist judgment — including a complaint that they had received no notice of a variation of the interest rate, and an estoppel argument, against the backdrop of pending foreclosure proceedings — did not, in the court's view, raise any bona fide triable issue capable of displacing the admitted debt and the conclusive certificate.

A distinct point concerned the amended statement of claim. Under Order 20 rule 9 of the Rules of Court 2012, an order granting leave to amend ceases to have effect if the amendment is not made within the stipulated period, and here the amended statement of claim was filed a few days out of time, technically without leave. The court treated this as a procedural irregularity that had caused no miscarriage of justice, and, the amended pleading having been sealed, declined to allow the technical lapse to defeat an otherwise clear claim. The judgment is a useful illustration of the conclusive effect of a certificate of indebtedness in a lending claim, and of the principle that a curable procedural irregularity, absent prejudice, will not stand in the way of summary judgment on an admitted debt.