1. ) AHMAD FAUZI BIN MD YAHYA 2. ) ROHAYATI BINTI MAT YAHYA 3. ) WAKIL DIRI KPD HARTA PUSAKA MAT DIN BIN MD YAHAYA, SIMATI 4. ) SHAKINAH BINTI MD YAHYA v AB. RAHMAN BIN MD. YAHYA

Case Significance

Instructive on proving a trust of land by documentary evidence against a bare denial, and on the remedies, including repayment of acquisition compensation with interest and re-transfer of title, where a trustee wrongfully retains trust property.

This High Court decision at Sungai Petani, Kedah, follows a full trial of a family dispute over land held on trust and the compensation paid for its compulsory acquisition. The plaintiffs and the defendant were half-siblings, children of a deceased father, and the dispute concerned two properties. As to the first property, the plaintiffs relied on a declaration of trust document dated 1983, by which the father had transferred a 4/11 share of the land to the defendant to hold as trustee for the plaintiffs and another sibling, since deceased. Part of that land was later acquired by the Government, and the defendant received compensation of RM160,570.00 for the acquired share; the plaintiffs alleged that the defendant had acted in breach of trust and fraudulently and had refused to return the share or the compensation. The second property had belonged to the plaintiffs' late mother, and the defendant held its title and counterclaimed for possession, asserting that he had redeemed the grant after paying a debt. The court found for the plaintiffs on the trust: the documents clearly showed that the defendant held the land as trustee, while his defence was a bare denial, and there was no proof that he had paid any debt entitling him to the mother's property. Having allowed part of the plaintiffs' claim and part of the counterclaim, the court ordered the defendant to repay the whole compensation of RM160,570.00 to the plaintiffs' solicitors within one month, with interest at 3% per annum from the date of the plaintiffs' notice of demand to the filing of the action and 5% per annum thereafter until full settlement, the share of the deceased sibling to be paid to the public trustee pending administration of his estate; it further ordered the defendant to surrender the original title of the second property within 14 days and to transfer the 4/11 share of the first property to the plaintiffs and the deceased sibling within 14 days, failing which the Deputy Registrar would do so. The judgment is instructive on proving a trust of land by documents against a bare denial and on the remedies where a trustee wrongfully retains acquisition compensation.