Alfred Lai Choong Wui

On the court record

Alfred Lai Choong Wui's reported practice is in commercial litigation, with recurring work on illegality, restitution and company disputes, appearing in the High Court, the Court of Appeal and the Federal Court and acting for appellants, respondents, plaintiffs and defendants.

A distinct strand concerns moneylending and statutory illegality. In a Court of Appeal matter involving Golden Wheel Credit Sdn Bhd, in which he acted for the appellant, the issues were whether moneylending agreements made by a licensed moneylender complied with the Moneylenders Act 1951, whether they were void ab initio or illegal under section 24 of the Contracts Act 1950, and whether restitution was available under section 66 of that Act.

The theme of failed contracts and restitution continues at the Federal Court. Acting for a respondent, he was engaged on questions of total and partial failure of consideration, repudiation, restitution and unconscionability, and on the reach of doctrines such as prospective overruling and total failure of consideration — the kind of appeal that develops the law on when money paid under a broken bargain must be returned.

His company work includes a High Court matter concerning South Malaysia Industries Berhad, in which he acted for a plaintiff on a claim for damages arising from the sale of shares and the control of a public-listed company, an interim injunction, and the regulatory framework governing take-overs and mergers under the securities legislation, with the Securities Commission appearing as amicus curiae. He has also acted for a defendant in a dispute over an alleged breach of a shareholders agreement and whether shares were unconditionally owned by the defendant, engaging the contra proferentem rule. The practice is commercial, restitution and company litigation. A recurring thread is illegality — whether a transaction offends a statute, whether it is therefore void, and whether money paid under it can be recovered — alongside the company disputes that arise over the ownership and control of shares.