(iii) Appeal No. A-01(W)-247-04/2022 (Appeal 247) was filed by TNB (the 2nd defendant), and it has two main complaints. First, it challenged the amounts awarded in paras (b) to (e) in that the documents relied on to support the claims by Batu Kemas for the items claimed in paras (b) to (e) were marked as “ID” documents, and they were never tendered/converted as exhibits of the court. Therefore, they were inadmissible evidence. The learned High Court judge was wrong in law to award damages based on documents that were marked as “ID”. The second complaint was in reference to the award in para (f) in that the learned High Court judge went beyond the scope of assessment ordered by the Federal Court. [5] This Court will first deal with Batu Kemas’s appeal (Appeal 243) and follow by the Government of Malaysia’s and TNB’s appeals (Appeals 242 and 247) in seriatim. Page 8 of 30 Batu Kemas’s Appeal (Appeal 243) [6] Batu Kemas has raised numerous grounds of appeals in its Memorandum of Appeal dated 29.6.2022. However, during the hearing of the appeal before this Court, the counsel for Batu Kemas informed the Court that Batu Kemas would pursue its appeal only on one ground which was the learned High Court judge had failed to award any pre-judgment and/or post-judgment interest on the judgment sums awarded by the court. Batu Kemas prayed for chargeable interest at the rate of 8% to be calculated on the judgment sum(s) from the date of filing of the suit to the date of full settlement of the judgment sum in its amended Statement of Claim. However, the learned High Court judge did not consider the claim, the counsel for Batu Kemas submitted. Pre-judgment interest [7] On the award of pre-judgment interest, s.11(1) of the Civil Law Act 1956 states “in any proceedings tried in any court for the recovery of any debt or damages, the court may, if it thinks fit, order that there shall be included in the sum for which judgment is given interest at such rate as it thinks fit on the whole or any part of the debt or damages for the whole or any part of the period between the date when the cause of action arose and the date of the judgment.” An award of pre-judgment interest is not as of right in law. The statute grants the court the discretion whether to award such interest as it thinks fit. The operative words used in the statute are “the court may, if it thinks fit”. The period in which the court may consider to award interest is between the date when the cause of action arose and the date of the judgment. Page 9 of 30 [8] We note the Federal Court Order dated 26.4.2018 did not mention pre-judgment or post-judgement interest to be awarded. The apex court gave a very specific instruction to the High Court (see paras 3 and 4 of the Federal Court Order in paragraph [54] of this Judgement). It is not wrong for the learned High Court judge not to grant any pre-judgment interest in his judgment, but to follow the instruction strictly from the Federal Court to only consider those items as directed in its Order. On this score, we see nothing plainly wrong has been committed by the learned High Court judge in not exercising his discretion to award pre-judgment interest. Post-judgment interest [9] With regard to post-judgment interest, the power for the court to grant post-judgment interest is found in Order 42 rule 12 of the Rules of Court which states “subject to rule 12A, except when it has been otherwise agreed between the parties, every judgment debt shall carry interest at such rate as the Chief Justice may from time to time determine or at such other rate not exceeding the rate aforesaid as the Court determines, such interest to be calculated from the date of judgment until the judgment is satisfied.” It is clear that “every judgment debt shall carry interest” and the prevailing rate is 5% per annum to be “calculated from the date of judgment until the judgment is satisfied.” [10] A judgment debt includes both the principal judgment sum(s) awarded and the pre-judgment interest (if awarded) (see Trans Elite Equipment Rental Sdn Bhd v PSC-Naval Dockyard Sdn Bhd [2003] 4 MLJ 30; [2003] 4 CLJ 270, at 279, HC; the legal proposition in Trans Elite Page 10 of 30 Equipment Rental Sdn Bhd has been accepted and affirmed by the Court of Appeal decision in Fairview Schools Berhad v Merger Insight (M) Sdn Bhd [2017] CLJU 1047) [11] Based on the above Rules of Court, post-judgment interest is a statutory interest, as opposed to pre-judgment interest which is based on the judge’s discretion. Although the Federal Court did not rule on the post-judgment interest, the law has provided that the judgment debt shall carry interest once it has been ordered by the court. It has been held that where a judgment or order provides for damages to be assessed, the statutory interest does not run until the assessment of damages (see Ashover Flour Spar Mines Ltd v Jackson [1911] 2 Ch 355; Ong Boon Him v Tan Oh Tee [1937] MLJ 122, [1937] CLJU 45; see also Konsortium Kopkad Sdn Bhd v Konsortium Koperasi Pengguna Malaysia Bhd [2016] 4 CLJ 168, HC). [12] A party could not be held liable to pay interest until the party knows what is the judgment debt that he must pay. In the event he fails to pay the judgment debt that he is liable to pay, then it is justified for interest be imposed on the outstanding judgment debt until the judgment debt is satisfied. [13] Further, once a judgment debt is ascertained and is not satisfied, this means the winning party has been deprived of the enjoyment of the judgment debt. For this reason, it is just that interest be awarded on the ascertained judgment debt if it is not satisfied. [14] Based on the above reasoning, this Court is satisfied that interest of 5% per annum chargeable on the judgment debt to be calculated from the Page 11 of 30 date of the judgment (17.3.2022) until to the date of full settlement ought to be awarded. The Government of Malaysia’s appeal (Appeal 242) [15] Before the start of the discussion, it is important to note that the counsel for Batu Kemas had informed this Court that the amount awarded in item (b) of the Assessment Order has been “subsumed” into item (f) of the same. In other words, the counsel for the Batu Kemas conceded that the replacement costs for the 2 machines (BSP 600-DI-C Control) have been included in the award of RM35,000,000.00. [16] The Senior Federal Counsel (SFC) did not challenge items (c), (d) and (e) of the Assessment Order. As far as item (b) is concerned, since the amount awarded has been considered as “subsumed” into item (f), therefore, this Court would consider that the SFC is also challenging the amount of item (b) via the challenge of the awarded amount in item (f) of the Assessment Order. [17] The main contention of the SFC is that Batu Kemas failed to adduce evidence to support its entitlement in item (f) of the Assessment Order. It is trite law that the claimant bears the burden of proof that he is entitled to the damages claimed. [18] Batu Kemas produced an evaluation report prepared by one property consultancy and registered valuers, Fadzilah & Fikri Sdn Bhd. The said report was signed off by one Mohd Fikri Bin Abdullah (PW9). The said report estimated the market value for the plant, machinery and equipment utilised to produce Calcium Silica Lime Bricks which were Page 12 of 30 owned by Batu Kemas was in the sum of RM70,000,000.00 at the time of valuation as at 17.1.2012 (see Encl. 50, pp.102-190/412). The method of evaluation subscribed to in the report was the Current Gross Reinstatement Cost. [19] This Court observes item 7 listed in the section of Inventory of Plant & Machinery Equipment in the report stated as follows: [20] Item 7 is the same item as awarded in item (b) of the Assessment Order. Therefore, it is correct that the awarded sum in item (b) ought to be subsumed into item (f) of the Assessment Order, otherwise, there would be a double recovery. [21] During the hearing of the assessment of damages, parties agreed that they would be relying on the evidence adduced during the earlier trial and no further evidence would be adduced by both parties (see E. Rekod Rayuan Tambahan 2, p. 12/61 pdf [Case Appeal 242]). Analysis [22] This Court observes several issues pertaining to the sum awarded in item (f) of the Assessment Order. First, in the Notes of Proceedings Page 13 of 30 recorded in E. 42, Rekod Rayuan Tambahan 2 [Appeal 242], p.56/61 pdf, line 1211, it was stated that the High Court awarded RM25,000,000.00 for item (f), as opposed to the amount of RM35,000,000.00 as stated in the fair Assessment Order. [23] Secondly, counsel for Batu Kemas submitted that the replacement costs for the machinery and equipment based on the quotation given by one WKB Systems Gmbh was Euro 12,793,020, and based on the Bank Negara Exchange rate as at 10.12.2019 of RM4.6050 per Euro, therefore, Batu Kemas was entitled to the sum of RM58,911,857.10. However, at para 45 of the submission, the amount stated was the sum of RM56,607,238.80 (see E40, Rekod Rayuan Jilid 2(36), Bahagian C, p.43/91 pdf, [Appeal 242]). [24] This Court further observes that there were three amounts presented before the learned High Court judge for consideration, first, RM70,000,000.00 (based on the report presented by PW9), secondly, RM58,911,857.10 (as submitted by Batu Kemas’ counsel based on the quotation given by one WKB Systems Gmbh) and lastly, RM56,607,238.80 (as submitted by Batu Kemas’s counsel as mentioned above). After having scrutinized the submissions, this Court is of the view that the last amount could have been a clerical mistake, and could be ignored. Therefore, two amounts were left for consideration, they were RM70,000,000.00 and RM58,911,857.10. [25] The High Court awarded RM35,000,000.00 as damages in item (f). The learned High Court judge had considered the following, first, there was no proof that Batu Kemas intended to occupy the factory and repair the damage; secondly, the learned High Court considered that Batu Page 14 of 30 Kemas was wound-up at that material time, and therefore, the claim for full replacement costs of the machinery at its current market value was unreasonable; and lastly, the learned High Court judge, after taking into consideration the proposition in the case of Beatrice Ramanathan (F) & Anor v Shah Alam Properties Sdn Bhd & Anor Case [1994] 4 CLJ 646, reduced the proposed sum(s) to RM35,000,000.00 as just and reasonable amount for damages for the replacement or repair costs. [26] It is trite law that awarding damages is “to put the party who has been injured, or who has suffered, in the same position as he would have been in if he had not sustained the wrong for which he is now getting his compensation or reparation” (see Livingstone v Rawyards Coal Company (1880) 5 App Cas 25 (HL), p. 39, in which the legal principle has been adopted in the Malaysian law on award of damages). It is also trite law that the burden of proof lies with the party who is seeking damages to prove there was in fact damage and the amount of damages. [27] In the present case, it was not denied by the defendants that the machines and equipment belonging to the plaintiff were damaged. With regard to the sum of damages, Batu Kemas had offered two amounts, one RM70,000,000.00, and the other RM58,911.857.10 as the replacement costs. The learned High Court judge observed that the defendants did not challenge that the calculation for the damages offered by PW9 was wrong nor did the defendants offer any alternative methods of calculation, and that there was not an iota of evidence was adduced by the defendants to rebut or challenge the quantum of damages presented by Batu Kemas. Therefore, the learned High Court judge found that Batu Kemas had discharged its burden of proof. Page 15 of 30 [28] The SFC submitted that PW9 had not previously evaluated a factory’s machinery that produces lime brick and that not all items were evaluated because some were lost or stolen. In other words, the figure offered was an inaccurate estimation and not substantiated with evidence to support the amount claimed. SFC further submitted that it was not the defendant’s burden to disprove the damages claimed. This Court observes that the learned High Court judge did not find anything unusually wrong or unreasonable in the report produced by PW9 as the report was not seriously challenged by the defendants other than the challenge made by the defendants to PW9’s experience in carrying out such evaluation. [29] The counsels for the Government of Malaysia (Nurhafiza Azizan and Syeeda Marlim Uthman) in the earlier trial did not cross-examine PW9 on the damage of the machinery and equipment as mentioned in the report. Likewise, there was no cross-examination on the figures highlighted by PW9 as damages. The cross-examination questions mainly focused on challenging the preparation of the report (see Enclosure 13, pp. 132-142/173 pdf [Appeal 242]), they did not touch on the reliability of the costs of replacement or repair of the machinery and equipment. Therefore, the learned High Court judge was not wrong to accept that damage to the machinery and equipment had been proven as well as to accept the amount suggested as damages but with some adjustment. There is nothing plainly wrong for the learned High Court judge to come to the conclusion that Batu Kemas had proven the machinery and equipment were damaged and the proposed replacement or repair costs for the damaged machinery and equipment. [30] The learned High Court judge awarded only RM35,000,000.00 for the claim, despite having accepted the report as unrebutted and Page 16 of 30 unchallenged. The learned High Court judge awarded a lower amount because he had taken into consideration those factors as mentioned earlier to give a fair and just amount for damages which the learned High Court judge was entitled to do so. [31] With regard to the discrepancy of the awarded sum found in the Note of Proceedings and the final order, since all parties have accepted the sum of RM35,000,000.00 as the awarded sum for the damages in para