Felda land deal suit - judge recuses herself

A judicial commissioner appointed to hear the suit between developer Synergy Promenade Sdn Bhd and the New Straits Times Press (M) Bhd (NSTP) regarding Felda's Jalan Semarak land issue today recused herself.

Judicial commissioner Aliza Sulaiman recuses herself from hearing the matter due to her allegedly knowing one of the parties.

This was disclosed by lawyers Prem Ramachandran for Synergy Promenade and Reuben Mathivarnam for NSTP.

The company had named the NSTP following a series of Berita Harian reports late last year over the land transaction.

In its statement of claim, Synergy Promenade explained that it was given an award letter by Felda dated Jan 24, 2014, as the master developer to develop the 20 ha land in Jalan Semarak for which it was also given power of attorney.

A series of three articles in Berita Harian, dated last December, it added, had implied that the transfer had resulted in the loss of the Felda land and that the transfer of assets was done illegally.

These articles, Synergy Promenade claimed, were libellous and had gone viral affecting the developer’s reputation resulting in physical losses due to the loss of high-value projects that were in progress.

Synergy Promenade is seeking RM250 million in damages and an apology from NSTP as well as an injunction restraining the newspaper publisher from repeating the allegedly defamatory words.

NSTP, in its statement of defence, claimed that the articles were not defamatory and were meant to highlight the risks faced by Felda.

The publisher added that the articles were written out of public interest and cited the defence of qualified privilege due to the suspicious nature of the deal.

NSTP added that there was no malice in the publication and its reporting was fair, neutral and responsible. - Mkini