Banks can rely on computer-generated statements of accounts to prove outstanding loans in court, provided a bank officer gives evidence that the records were produced by a computer used in the ordinary course of business, the Court of Appeal ruled on Friday.
The court made the ruling in overturning a High Court decision that had dismissed a bank’s claim to recover RM689,207 from a borrower and two personal guarantors.
Justice Wong Kian Kheong, who delivered the decision with Justices Faizah Jamaludin and Leonard David Shim, said the High Court had wrongly excluded the bank’s certificate of indebtedness and computer-generated statements. He said the documents were admissible under Section 90A(1) of the Evidence Act 1950, as a bank officer had verified and signed the certificate and testified that the statements were generated by the bank’s computer in the ordinary course of business.
The officer had also confirmed that the computer was working normally, and the defendants did not produce any evidence to contradict him, the judge said.
The case involved two loan facilities totalling RM15 million granted by SME Bank to Panji Timor Holdings Sdn Bhd for a hotel project in Seremban, Negeri Sembilan. After the borrower defaulted, receivers and managers appointed by the bank sold the land and the unfinished hotel for RM15 million in 2014, and SMEB Asset Management Sdn Bhd, which took over the bank’s business and financing contracts, later sued to recover the outstanding debt.
The Court of Appeal ordered the three defendants to pay RM689,207 jointly and severally and dismissed Panji Timor’s counterclaim that the sale had produced a surplus of about RM3.92 million that should be returned to it. It also dismissed the bank’s separate appeal against the High Court’s refusal to allow amendments to its statement of claim.
This article is general information, not legal advice. For advice on your own situation, speak to a lawyer.