Andy Hall ordered to pay RM500,000 for defaming recruitment director

 The migrant rights activist was also ordered to pay RM100,000 in costs and apologise to R Muthusamy.

Migrant rights activist Andy Hall was not present in court to defend himself in the suit filed by a director of a foreign workers’ recruitment firm. (EPA Images pic)

PETALING JAYA:

Migrant rights activist Andy Hall has been ordered by the Johor Bahru High Court to pay a global sum of RM500,000 in damages over two defamation suits filed by a director of a foreign workers’ recruitment firm four years ago.

Judicial commissioner Noradura Hamzah ruled that R Muthusamy, director of Embun Karisma Resources, had proven his case against Hall, who was not present in court to defend himself.

Muthusamy, represented by GK Sritharan and Chai Yi Ng, was the sole witness for the plaintiff in the hearing of the two suits, which were consolidated.

In her oral grounds, Noradura said she awarded damages on the higher side because the allegations of corruption and bribery against Muthusamy were serious.

She also ordered Hall to pay RM100,000 in costs.

The court further restrained Hall from publishing similar defamatory statements and ordered him to apologise to Muthusamy in major print media as well as on Facebook and Instagram.

In the first suit, filed on April 12, 2022, Muthusamy alleged that Hall had sent an email on Jan 6 to at least 40 recipients, including companies, government departments and NGOs, accusing him of attempting to bribe Hall through a consultancy offer at ATA, a leading electronics manufacturing services company.

Muthusamy said Hall had also claimed in the email that he had made inquiries about “how much it would cost to pay off or silence Andy Hall”.

He said he subsequently issued a letter of demand to Hall on Feb 14.

However, Muthusamy alleged that Hall then made another defamatory statement in an article titled “See you in court: Hall dares libel claimant in Dyson force labour controversy”, published by Focus Malaysia on Feb 17.

In both suits, Muthusamy claimed that the statements in Hall’s email and the Focus Malaysia report were false and baseless.

He said the words used were “sensational, scandalous, offensive and malicious”, portraying him as involved in illegal and criminal activities, damaging his reputation both locally and internationally. -  FMT