In GIIB Holdings Berhad v Wong Weng Yew & Ors, the plaintiff applied for discovery of WhatsApp messages and access to a Google Drive referred to in the WhatsApp messages, among others. The documents came to the plaintiff’s attention after receiving the defendants’ proposed bundle of documents (DBOD), which contained numerous WhatsApp conversations from various WhatsApp groups. The plaintiff claimed that there were numerous conversations suggesting that the defendants, together with various third parties, were in discussions to plan and take premeditated steps to cause injury to the plaintiff.
These conversations also made express reference to certain media files and documents which formed part of the conversations but were not included in the DBOD. In some cases, the documents and parts of the conversations had been deleted.
Notwithstanding that the application was filed less than a month before trial, and despite various other grounds of objection, the High Court granted the application in part. The Court found that the contents of the discussions were of such a character that it was satisfied the said documents would likely relate to the plaintiff’s cause of action for conspiracy to injure, or at the very least, would lead to a train of inquiry that would either advance the plaintiff’s case or damage the defendants’ case. The scope of discovery was also not too wide, as it was expressly confined to specific and identified WhatsApp groups, specific media, and documents that were expressly omitted or deleted from the DBOD and/or referred to in these WhatsApp groups.
An earlier version of this case summary was published by Foong Cheng Leong on LinkedIn.
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