Reference no: EM131626714

Gareth's cousin, Carl has a mobile business in Kajang, Cheras. Carl is the owner of a vacant plot of land at Sungai Long, Cheras ("the land"), which he bought 2 years ago, for his business expansion.

Carl is a very religious person. For the past 5 years, he has been a diligent member of a religious group led by Helley, a spiritual leader of the religious group. Carl regularly attends talks conducted by Helley. Carl trusted Helley fully, and on many occasions, Carl confided his personal problems to Helley. In recent months, Carl's business deteriorated, and he was hard pressed by his creditors for the repayment of substantial sums of money owed by him to them. Last June 2016, he approached Helley, his spiritual adviser, for advice.

Helley advised Carl to sell the land to pay off his debts. Helley offered to buy the land for RM150,000.00 which he said was a fair and reasonable price. Carl was unhappy with the offer as he felt it was too low. When he mentioned that he would like to get independent professional advice, Helley became aggressive and replied that he (Helley) was the best person to advise him (Carl). Seeing that Carl was not listening to his advice, Helley then told Carl that if Carl sold the land to him, he (Carl) would be blessed with improved financial health and prosperity, if not, he would certainly suffer even more serious financial difficulties in the future.

Carl was afraid of Helley's spiritual future prediction, and decided to sell off the land quickly to him. Carl trusted Helley 100%, since he was his spiritual adviser for the past 5 years. A few days after Carl signed the contract to sell the land to Helley for RM150,000.00, he learnt that his land was valued at RM800,000.00 of June 2016. In fact, Helley knew about this latest valuation all the time. Carl feels cheated and now wishes to rescind the contract.

Advise Gareth as to whether his friend, Carl, is able to rely on any vitiating factor to rescind the contract for the sale of the land.