Businessperson Farhash Wafa Salvador Rizal Mubarak and two others have failed to obtain an injunction from the Shah Alam High Court against MalaysiaNow over its articles on the Sabah mining scandal.
Lawyer Rajesh Nagarajan, representing MalaysiaNow and its editor Abdar Rahman Koya, confirmed the decision when contacted.
Rajesh said judge Noor Hayati Mat, who delivered her verdict in an online proceeding today, found that Farhash, who was a former aide to Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim, and the other plaintiffs had failed to show the defendants’ defence was unsustainable.
“The judge also said that the issue of our defence’s sustainability will be decided after the suit’s hearing.
“The judge found that it is not for the court to decide whether the statements were defamatory or otherwise at this preliminary stage,” he told Malaysiakini.
The lawyer added that the court, after perusing evidence provided at the injunction application hearing, including documents cited in MalaysiaNow’s articles, found that the defence put forth was not obviously untrue; therefore, there was no need for an interim injunction.
Hayati also ordered RM5,000 in costs to the defendants, he said.
With this order, the lawyer confirmed that the news portal can maintain its publications of the articles for now.
Farhash to appeal
The plaintiffs’ lawyer, Rajan Navaratnam, said his clients will appeal the verdict.
Farhash along with Bumi Suria Sdn Bhd and Aminudin Mustapha, filed a defamation suit on July 30 against MalaysiaNow and Rahman, seeking RM10 million in damages over articles they claimed tarnished their reputation in the corporate world.
In their affidavits, the plaintiffs said the news articles affected their careers and business ties by depicting them as having abused their positions to obtain a mining licence illegally.
Apart from financial damages, the plaintiffs are also seeking aggravated, exemplary and punitive damages, as well as a court order for the defendants to publish a full, unconditional and public apology on the portal.
They also want five percent interest per annum and for the articles to be removed from the news site. - Mkini
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