RAJA ZAINAL ABIDIN BIN RAJA HUSSIN v MOHD HANAFIAH ABDUL JALIL

Case Significance

Confirms that an executed acknowledgment of debt is strong evidence of liability, and that an allegation of duress that is unpleaded and unsupported by any police report or counterclaim will be treated as a sham defence that raises no triable issue against summary judgment.

This High Court decision at Kuala Lumpur is a straightforward summary judgment on an acknowledged debt, illustrating how the court treats a belated and unsupported plea of duress. The plaintiff's claim rested on a Deed of Acknowledgment of Debt dated 19 June 2023, by which the defendant — described in the deed as the Borrower, with the plaintiff as the Lender — acknowledged owing the plaintiff RM1,650,000 and undertook to repay it in two instalments. The plaintiff applied for summary judgment on the footing that there was no triable issue as to the defendant's liability under the deed.

The defendant's answer was that he had signed the deed under duress. The court found this defence to be a sham and an afterthought. It pointed to a series of tell-tale features: the defendant had lodged no police report alleging that he had been coerced into signing the deed, had filed no counterclaim seeking to invalidate it, and had not even pleaded duress in his defence. A defence of duress raised in that way, unsupported by contemporaneous complaint or pleading, did not raise a bona fide triable issue capable of defeating summary judgment. The court therefore held that the plaintiff was entitled to summary judgment for the full acknowledged sum, structured according to the two instalments the deed specified.

The court entered summary judgment for RM1,650,000 payable in two instalments as provided by the deed, with the first instalment of RM100,000 to be paid forthwith together with interest at five per cent on that sum calculated from 19 June 2023 until payment, the second instalment not yet being due. The judgment illustrates that an executed acknowledgment of debt is strong evidence of liability, and that an unpleaded, uncorroborated allegation of duress will be treated as a sham defence rather than a triable issue.