JUDGMENT

Tengku Maimun Tuan Mat CJ (Majority):

Introduction

[1] This is the Ketua Pengarah Hasil Dalam Negeri/Revenue's appeal against the decision of the Court of Appeal in reversing the judgment of the High Court. The High Court had decided in favour of the Revenue when it dismissed the respondent's application for judicial review.

[2] Having considered the written and oral submissions of the parties, we unanimously dismissed the Revenue's appeal. We now provide our reasons.

Background facts

[3] The respondent is in the plantation business. Its parent company is Revertex Malaysia Sdn Bhd ("RMSB"). The ultimate holding company of the respondent is the Synthomer Group, a company incorporated in the United Kingdom.

[4] Synthomer Group decided that RMSB was to focus on Synthomer Group's core business activity, namely manufacture, trade and sale in chemicals (i.e. Synthetic resin and alkyd resin), and the respondent to carry out plantation business previously carried out by RMSB. For this purpose, the respondent entered into a Sale and Purchase Agreement dated 24 May 2004 with RMSB where plantation lands used by RMSB in Kluang, Johor were transferred to the respondent.