Sultanah Nur Zahirah of Terengganu (above) has filed an application to dispose of her defamation suit against Sarawak Report editor Clare Rewcastle-Brown and two others, without going for a full trial.
The suit concerns allegedly defamatory statements in the British journalist’s 2018 book, The Sarawak Report - The Inside Story of the 1MDB Expose.
This was confirmed by Sultanah Nur Zahirah's counsel Mohd Haaziq Pillay when met after case management of the suit in the chambers of High Court judge Ahmad Zaidi Ibrahim in Kuala Lumpur this morning.
"We have filed an application under Order 14A (of the Rules of Court 2012) meaning to seek for the matter to be summarily disposed of by the judge by making a ruling on whether the statement (by Rewcastle-Brown) was defamatory,” he said.
The application was filed earlier this month, on May 13, Haaziq added.
"They (defendants) filed their reply (to the Order 14A application) on May 24 but we have yet to receive it. We are supposed to file the affidavit in reply by June 12.
"The suit has been set for case management on June 17 for the judge to give directions on submissions under Order 14A," Haaziq said.
According to Order 14A, the plaintiff may file an application for a suit to be decided only on points of law without going for a full trial, which would have involved points of fact.
Asked about the grounds for the Order 14A application, Haaziq said that based on the law of defamation, the judge has the discretion to decide whether the statement by Rewcastle-Brown (below), which was published by the second and third defendants, is defamatory.
The second defendant is Gerakbudaya Enterprise publisher Chong Ton Sin and the third defendant is printing company Vinlin Press Sdn Bhd.
Haaziq said that if the application is allowed, the sultanah would not need to give evidence for the trial.
“The onus is then on the defendants, whether they would come up with their own defences and whether the defences are admissible under the Defamation Act 1957," he added.
On Jan 30, Bernama reported that the High Court in Kuala Lumpur had scheduled the hearing of the suit against Rewcastle-Brown, Chong, and Vinlin Press to take place from Nov 25 to 29.
It was reported then that nine witnesses, including Sultanah Nur Zahirah and Rewcastle-Brown, would be called to testify at the hearing.
On Nov 21 last year, Sultanah Nur Zahirah filed the defamation suit, where she alleged that Rewcastle-Brown used defamatory statements in the book, which was printed by Vinlin Press in August last year.
The plaintiff claimed that the statements implied that she was involved in corrupt acts and interfered in the administration of Terengganu.
She further claimed that the statements alleged that she used her role to influence the setting up of the Terengganu Investment Authority (TIA), and assisted wanted fugitive Low Taek Jho, more popularly known as Jho Low (below), to become the advisor of TIA.
The sultanah said that the statements were defamatory as she was not involved in either the administration of the state nor the setting up of TIA, and alleged that the statements had caused her embarrassment and tarnished her reputation in the eyes of the public.
She alleged it was common knowledge that 1MDB was earlier known as TIA.
Sultanah Nur Zahirah is seeking RM100 million in damages and wants the second defendant Chong to withdraw the books containing the defamatory statements as well as stop third defendant Vinlin Press from printing more copies of the book.
In their statement of defence, the three defendants denied they had ever accused Sultanah Nur Zahirah of having been involved in corrupt acts.
Rewcastle-Brown stated that Sarawak Report had never suggested that Sultanah Nur Zahirah was involved in a conspiracy with Low or that she was involved in any government administration linked to 1MDB. - mkini
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