Bank boleh guna penyata akaun janaan komputer tuntut pinjaman tertunggak

The Malaysian High Court has ruled that a bank can use computer-generated account statements as evidence of a large loan in court, provided that the bank's employee attests that the records were generated by a computer used for regular business operations. In a recent case, the High Court dismissed a bank's appeal for a retrial of RM689,207 owed to an individual borrower and two personal guarantors.

The court emphasized that the High Court erred when it dismissed the bank's certificate of indebtedness and computer-generated account statements. The account statements were deemed admissible as evidence under Section 90A(1) of the Evidence Act 1950, as they were signed and stamped by a bank employee. The employee also attested that the computer functioned properly while the defendant did not present any evidence to contradict their claim.

Therefore, the High Court stated that the High Court erred in dismissing the computer-generated account statements as evidence. The dispute arose from two RM15 million loan facilities provided by SME Bank to Panji Timor Holdings Sdn Bhd for a Seremban hotel project. Once the borrower failed to make payments, the bank's authorized representative and its appointed managers sold the unfinished land and hotel for RM15 million in 2014.

SMEB Asset Management Sdn Bhd, which took over the bank's business and financing contracts, then filed a lawsuit seeking to recover the outstanding debt. Panji Timor filed a counterclaim, alleging that the sale generated a profit of approximately RM3.92 million, which should have been returned to them. The High Court upheld the bank's appeal against the High Court's decision and ordered all three defendants to pay RM689,207 individually and jointly.

The court also dismissed the individual bank's counterclaim, but allowed the bank's separate appeal against the High Court's decision to not allow it to amend its lawsuit.