Belated forensic challenge to company records rejected as a fishing enquiry and abuse of process in corporate dispute.

A belated request to send disputed board minutes and statutory records for forensic examination was rejected because the documents had been on record since 2007 and no timely expert request was made. The alleged forgery was unsupported by credible particulars or any contemporaneous complaint, and the records appeared to have arisen in the ordinary course of corporate and statutory filings. The existence of an oppression and mismanagement dispute did not justify a roving or fishing enquiry based only on suspicion. The application was therefore treated as unnecessary and an abuse of process intended to delay the main proceedings, and it was dismissed with costs.

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Issues: Whether the disputed board minutes and other documents should be sent for forensic examination and whether the original statutory records of the company should be summoned for such examination.

Analysis: The application was found to be belated, as the disputed documents had been placed on record in 2007 but no forensic request was made until several years later. The documents were treated as having emerged in the ordinary course of corporate and statutory filings, including minutes, returns, and other records filed over time, and the allegations of forgery were considered unsupported by any credible particulars or contemporaneous complaint. The existence of a broader oppression and mismanagement dispute did not justify a roving or fishing enquiry merely on the basis of suspicion. The request for expert examination was therefore held to be unnecessary and an abuse of process intended to delay the main proceedings.

Conclusion: The request for forensic examination was rejected, and the application was dismissed with costs.

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