The Court of Appeal today allowed an appeal by CTOS against a High Court decision in March, which ruled that the company did not have the power to formulate its own credit score. File pic

PUTRAJAYA: CTOS Data Systems Sdn Bhd (CTOS) has succeeded in its appeal to overrule the High Court ruling that stated it does not have the power to formulate its own credit score.

Lawyer Ashok Kandiah who represented the company together with Datuk Malik Imtiaz Sarwar and Celline Teh confirmed this when contacted today.

He said a three-member bench led by Judge Datuk Lee Swee Seng made the decision after allowing the company’s appeal against a High Court decision in March.

Other members of the bench were Datuk Azimah Omar and Datuk Azmi Ariffin.

Ashok said agencies such as CTOS are authorised to formulate and publish credit scores as part of their credit reporting business under the Credit Reporting Agencies Act (CRAA) 2010.

He said the appellate court also had set aside the lower court’s order requiring the company to pay RM200,000 to a businesswoman Suriati Mohd Yusoff over an inaccurate credit rating.

“The plaintiff (Suriati) failed to make out a case in defamation, negligence or breach of statutory duty against CTOS.

“The court also ruled that the company does not owe any duty of care in common law to Suriati,” he said.

The court also awarded RM65,000 in costs to be paid by the plaintiff Suriati.

On March 11, High Court judge Datuk Akhtar Tahir ruled that CTOS does not have the power to formulate its own credit score as it was only empowered to be a repository of the credit information to which its subscribers have access.

“CTOS’s main role is to collect, record, hold and store the information received.

“The company is also empowered to disseminate the information to its subscribers, and this includes financial institutions.

“By formulating a credit score, CTOS has gone beyond its statutory functions,” he said.

Akhtar said this in his judgment before ordering CTOS to pay RM200,000 in general damages to Suriati, who owned a resort in Pulau Perhentian, for inaccurate credit rating.

The 43-year-old businesswoman sued CTOS for alleged negligence and breach of fiduciary duty in misrepresenting her credit rating leading to a loss of reputation, personal losses as well as business losses.

Apart from inaccurate information, she contended that the defendant had given her a low credit score leading to loss of confidence from financial institutions.

Source: NST Online https://share.google/i3pQZtYoP9N95fEcs