KUALA LUMPUR: The much-anticipated four-day defamation trial initiated by Sultanah Nur Zahirah of Terengganu against Sarawak Report editor Clare Rewcastle Brown and two others has been vacated.
Judicial commissioner John Lee made the decision during virtual proceedings today after Rewcastle Brown filed an application earlier this week to stay the trial pending the disposal of her criminal proceedings.
Lee, who will hear the stay application on March 4, ordered Rewcastle Brown to pay Sultanah Nur Zahirah RM10,000 in costs.
Lawyer Mervyn Lai, who appeared for Rewcastle Brown, also confirmed the outcome of today’s proceeding.
The defamation trial had been scheduled to begin tomorrow and end on Tuesday.
Early last month, Rewcastle Brown filed a motion to transfer and strike out a charge that she had committed criminal defamation against the sultanah.
She said the charge was filed in the Kuala Terengganu magistrates’ court over an identical article said to be the subject matter of the defamation action.
She said the charge must be quashed as it was done in bad faith, was malicious in nature, and an abuse of the court process and prosecutorial powers.
No date has been fixed to hear the criminal proceeding in Kuala Lumpur.
Meanwhile, lawyer Mohd Haaziq Pillay Abdullah, who represented Sultanah Nur Zahirah before Lee, said they were prepared for the trial with his client ready to testify tomorrow.
Three years ago, Sultanah Nur Zahirah filed a RM300 million suit against Rewcastle Brown, publisher Gerakbudaya Enterprise and printer Vinlin Press and two others for allegedly defaming her in a book, The Sarawak Report: The Inside Story of the 1MDB Expose.
She said the alleged defamatory statement could also infer that she had interfered in Terengganu’s administration and had used her status to influence the establishment of the Terengganu Investment Authority (TIA), which later became 1MDB.
She alleged that the statement also construed her as having helped Low Taek Jho, also known as Jho Low, to become the adviser of TIA.
The defendants were relying on the defence of justification, fair comment and qualified privilege. - FMT
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