Ex-bank officer wins extra RM300,000 damages over frozen accounts

PUTRAJAYA: The Court of Appeal has awarded an additional RM300,000 in general damages to a former bank officer for tort of misfeasance in public office and breach of statutory duty by a police inspector.

In allowing Lim Hui Jin’s cross-appeal to raise the quantum from RM200,000, Justice Wong Kian Kheong said K Sopawan had unlawfully frozen Lim’s four bank accounts for four years.

Wong said Lim had to incur legal costs and had to sustain his livelihood by obtaining a loan and selling a joint property held under the name of a family member.

“We are of the considered view that RM500,000 should be a just and adequate amount of general damages for the plaintiff (Lim) in this case,” he said in the broad grounds delivered yesterday.

Justice Supang Lian chaired the bench while the other member was Justice Azimah Omar.

Wong said the two defendants named in the suit – the inspector-general of police and the government – are vicariously liable for Sopawan’s conduct.

“There is no dispute that Sopawan’s torts had been ‘oppressive, arbitrary or unconstitutional’, which also justified an award of exemplary damages,” he said.

The High Court awarded Lim RM200,000 in general damages two years ago, which has now been increased to RM500,000.

However, the Court of Appeal maintained the award for exemplary damages at RM100,000.

The bench also allowed the government’s appeal to set aside the High Court’s finding of liability against an unnamed deputy public prosecutor and another police inspector, Noorariff Shah Zainuddin.

Wong said the bench was bound by a Federal Court ruling that an unnamed public servant could not be held liable.

He said Noorariff also could not be held liable as he was only responsible for investigating a criminal breach of trust report lodged against Lim’s mother, Tan Hoo Eng, a director of an Ipoh-based company.

The bench also reduced the RM75,000 costs awarded to Lim at the High Court to RM50,000.

Lawyers Gurbachan Singh and Amir Faliq appeared for Lim while senior federal counsel Zetty Zurina Kamaruddin acted for the government.

The facts of the case revealed that Tan’s business partner lodged a police report against her on April 7, 2014 for alleged criminal breach of trust.

However, no report was made against Lim, who was then employed in Kuala Lumpur.

The police froze Tan’s bank accounts and seized her money under the Anti-Money Laundering, Anti-Terrorism Financing and Proceeds of Unlawful Activities Act (Amla).

She was also charged with CBT in the Ipoh sessions court.

Early this year, the High Court quashed all the CBT and anti-money laundering charges against Tan on grounds that her constitutional rights to a fair investigation and trial were violated.

However, Sopawan issued freezing orders on Lim’s four bank accounts with CIMB on June 24, 2014.

On Sept 11, 2014, the DPP ordered one of the accounts to be seized, but Lim was not charged with any offence.

In his statement of claim, Lim said he had made several applications to release the money from the account as he was neither prosecuted nor was his money forfeited.

Wong said money in one of Lim’s accounts was only released to him on Aug 17, 2018.

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