Apex court told actress Zahida Rafique is not a credible witness

Actress Zahida Rafique, who allegedly lost more than RM200,000 to her former driver, is not a credible witness, says former Federal Court judge Gopal Sri Ram.

Sri Ram said this in his submissions to the Federal Court's five-member bench, while representing the former driver Noor Azman Azemi, who is appealing the Court of Appeal decision which ordered him to pay RM200,000 for the loss.

Sri Ram said the High Court judge who heard the case held that Zahida was not a credible witness when she claimed to have lost RM200,000.

"The court found that she would choose whatever details she wanted when there is no evidence (of the monetary loss).

"The invoice produced (to show the presence of the money) is clearly a fabricated document," Sri Ram said.

The senior lawyer said while the actress had lodged a police report over the purported loss, and claimed to have been approached by reporters after lodging the report, she actually has one other option.

"Silence is always an option. It is submitted there is no reason why the maker of the police report should be free from accountability by way of defamation to publish the contents of the report to the world at large," he said.

"Absolute privilege should only be extended to statements which are akin to a police report and not to the republication of statements contained in the police report."

The senior lawyer further said that for politicians to say something in the House of Representatives, they are protected by absolute privilege but outside the House if they defamed someone, action could be taken against them.

This, he added is similar to police reports whereby individuals can lodge a report which is protected by absolute privilege, but if they were to announce it to others and it is subsequently reported, then action could be taken.

Noor Azman filed a defamation suit against Zahida for making claims about the losses following the publication of the report in Harian Metro on March 3, 2012, a day after the purported incident.

The actress filed a counter-claim but the High Court dismissed her claim and ordered her to pay RM150,000 to Noor Azman. - Mkini