1. ) Global Maritime Ventures Berhad 2. ) GMV Borcos Sdn Bhd (dalam liquidasi sukarela) v 1. ) Mohd Zafer Mohd Hashim 2. ) Sidqi Ahmad Said bin Ahmad 3. ) AWH Equity Holding Sdn Bhd 4. ) Wan Hamimie binti Wan Ariff 5. ) Tetuan Ram Reza & Muhammad PIHAK TERKILAN MALAYAN BANKING BERHAD

Case Significance

Illustrates the narrow scope of the 'banker's book' inspection power under section 7 of the Bankers' Books (Evidence) Act 1949 against the banking-secrecy regime of the Financial Services Act 2013: documents that are not ledgers, day books or books of account within section 2 fall outside section 7, and a third-party discovery application for them was dismissed.

This High Court decision at Kuala Lumpur, delivered by Judicial Commissioner Eddie Yeo Soon Chye, concerns an application for third-party discovery of banking documents and the interaction between the Bankers' Books (Evidence) Act 1949 and the banking-secrecy regime under the Financial Services Act 2013. The plaintiffs, Global Maritime Ventures Berhad and GMV Borcos Sdn Bhd (in voluntary liquidation), had brought a civil suit against a number of defendants, including individuals, a corporate defendant, and a firm of solicitors sued as a firm, and applied for the discovery and production of banking documents held by financial institutions joined as discovery defendants. The application engaged the definition of "banker's book" and the inspection power under the Bankers' Books (Evidence) Act 1949, as well as the statutory duty of banking secrecy under the Financial Services Act 2013.

The court dismissed the plaintiffs' application. It held that the documents sought did not fall within the definition of "banker's book" in section 2 of the Bankers' Books (Evidence) Act 1949, because they were not ledgers, day books, cash books, account books or books of account regularly kept in the course of the discovery defendants' businesses; it followed that section 7 of that Act, which permits inspection of a banker's book, was inapplicable to them. Having regard also to the banking-secrecy provisions of the Financial Services Act 2013 and to the guidance in Protasco Bhd v Tey Por Yee on the disclosure of banking documents, the court concluded that the plaintiffs had not brought their application within the statutory gateway for compelling production of the documents sought. It accordingly dismissed the plaintiffs' application, with no order as to costs. The judgment is a useful illustration of the narrow scope of the "banker's book" inspection power under section 7 of the Bankers' Books (Evidence) Act 1949 and its limits against the banking-secrecy regime under the Financial Services Act 2013.