The Kuala Lumpur High Court today ruled that Nouvelle Beauty Centre Sdn Bhd, the company of the late cosmetics millionaire Sosilawati Lawiya, can file its defence to answer a claim for breach of agreement in the sale and purchase of a property worth RM3 million.

Justice Zabariah Mohd Yusof granted the company's leave application for extension of time to file its defence and affidavit-in-reply to the suit filed by Low Choong Yen, 59, and his wife Lim Bee Geok, 52, for breach of the sale and purchase agreement of a property in Kota Damansara, Petaling Jaya.

Zabariah made the decision in chambers after hearing submissions from both parties.

The company's lawyer Mohd Hadi Ar Rais Muhamad told reporters that the judge ordered the company to file its defence and affidavit-in-reply by Wednesday.

The plaintiff had also filed an application for a summary judgment on the grounds that the defendant has no defence to the suit.

Mohd Hadi said that the court will hear the application on Friday.

Low and Lim filed the suit against the company on Aug 5, 25 days before Sosilawati, 47, and three others - her driver Kamaruddin Shamsudin, 44, CIMB bank officer Noorhisham Mohammad, 38, and lawyer Ahmad Kamil Abdul Karim, 32, were murdered in Tanjung Sepat, Banting.

In the suit, the couple claimed that an offer letter signed by Nouvelle Beauty Centre dated April 2 stated that it had agreed to sell them a 144.9 sq metre piece of land, together with a four-storey office building on it, for RM3 million.

They said that they had paid earnest deposit of RM60,000 when signing the offer letter for the purchase of the property, and the remaining RM240,000 of the deposit was to have been paid upon signing of the sale and purchase agreement.

However, after the sale and purchase agreement was signed, Nouvelle Beauty Centre, through a letter dated April 30, 2010, informed them that it had no intention of proceeding with the sale.

They also claimed that Nouvelle Beauty Centre failed to return the M60,000 which they had paid as earnest deposit.

Low and Lim are seeking a declaration that there was a valid agreement between them and Nouvelle Beauty Centre on the sale and purchase of the property, and for the company to proceed with the transaction, as well as an injunction to stop the company from disposing of the property to anyone else.

- Bernama