Question

Malaysian Business Law: Farid and Ah Fong graduated from a university in 2020 with a qualification in Bachelor of Business and Commerce. They decided to form a business offering advice to clients who wish to grow their businesses at a large scale. Fatimah who is a novice businesswoman is looking for a successful business partner in order to grow her business. She met a businessman by the name Felix but she is unsure of his financial credibility. She approached Farid and Ah Fong for consultation and advice as she came across their advertisement in the social media. Farid and Ah Fong did a thorough business research and recommended to Fatimah to proceed to have a business dealing with Felix as a business partner. Fatimah approached Felix and entered into a multi-million-dollar project. After a few months, Fatimah discovered that Felix is a financially troubled businessman. Fatimah is very upset. She approached Farid and Ah Fong for a clarification. However, Farid and Ah Fong claimed that they have conducted a thorough research on Felix’s financial standing. However, it has now transpired that Farid and Ah Fong did not look at the financial standing of Felix for the year 2018 but only looked at the financial standing for the year 2019. They claimed that there is no need to check the financial standing for the last two years. They also claimed that since they just graduated, they do not have much experience. Fatimah seeks your advice as to her rights against Farid and Ah Fong.

Answer 1

This is a case of principal and agent relationship. Fatimah being the principal contacted  Farid and Ah Fong for the financial investigation on Felix.  Farid and Ah Fong stated that they have conducted the financial investigation Felix thoroughly but in fact they only performed the financial investigation only for the year 2019 and did not include the earlier period of time.

This is the breach of the duty assigned by the principal to the agent and thus the damaged caused by the agents can be recovered by Fatimah as the agent did not perform as directed or expected