Winding Up Against Insurance Company in Malaysia

Insurance companies are licensed financial institutes are as such, are regulated under the Financial Services Act 2013 (FSA).  S. 195 of the FSA specifically provided that no winding-up petition may be presented against such institution without prior written approval from the Central Bank of Malaysia. To what extent does this provision applies where a final judgment has been obtained against an insurance company?

The High Court was posed this very question recently in a case where an insurance company filed an application for a Fortuna Injunction against an individual to restrain him from presenting a petition based on a judgment. The basis for the application was that payout cannot be made due to lack of documents required according to guidelines issued by the Central Bank of Malaysia and also due t0 the application of the provision of the FSA.

It was held that where final judgment has been obtained, the jurisdiction to wind-up a company cannot be restrained by raising procedural objection (in this case refers to the method of payment and regulatory compliance) that does not go into the existence of the debt itself.