Court sets Oct 31 to rule on sultanah’s suit against Rewcastle Brown

 

Terengganu’s Sultanah Nur Zahirah says a statement in Clare Rewcastle Brown’s book suggested that she was involved in corrupt practices and had interfered in state affairs.

KUALA LUMPUR: The High Court here has fixed Oct 31 to rule on Terengganu’s Sultanah Nur Zahirah’s defamation suit against Sarawak Report editor Clare Rewcastle Brown and others.

Judicial commissioner Lee Kien How @ Johan Lee had earlier today heard oral submissions from lawyers Vishnukumar Ramalingam, representing Sultanah Nur Zahirah, and Americk Sidhu, who appeared for Rewcastle Brown, publisher Chong Ton Sin and printer Vinlin Press Sdn Bhd.

Sultanah Nur Zahirah filed a RM100 million defamation suit against the trio in 2018, claiming Rewcastle Brown had made a disparaging statement in her book, “The Sarawak Report: The Inside Story of the 1MDB Expose”.

The impugned statement read: “(Fugitive businessman Low Taek Jho, or Jho Low) was also friendly with a key player in Terengganu, the wife of the sultan, whose acquiescence was needed to set up the fund and he later cited her support as having been crucial to his obtaining the advisory position.”

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The book, which tells the story behind investigations into 1MDB, was written by Rewcastle Brown.

Sultanah Nur Zahirah claimed that the statement could be taken to mean that the sultanah was involved in corrupt practices and had interfered in Terengganu’s administration, besides using her status to influence the establishment of the Terengganu Investment Authority (TIA), as 1MDB was formerly known.

She also alleged that the statement could also be construed to mean that she had helped Jho Low secure his position as adviser to TIA.

Apart from the sultanah, two other witnesses testified for the plaintiff, while Rewcastle Brown and a language expert testified for the defendants.

Earlier today, Vishnukumar told the court that Rewcastle Brown’s defence that she had made an “honest mistake” when identifying the “key player” in the impugned statement as the “wife of the sultan” only first surfaced in her witness statement given at trial.

He said previous media interviews she gave on the book never mentioned any such “mistake”.

Vishnukumar also said that neither Chong nor representatives from Vinlin Press testified at the trial.

In response, Americk said that Chong and Vinlin Press’ representatives would have been mere “technical witnesses”, having only printed and published what the author, Rewcastle Brown, wrote.

“We felt that they could not offer anything to the matter before this court.

“If (Sultanah Nur Zahirah’s lawyers) wanted to cross-examine the printer and publisher, they could have issued a subpoena to them,” he added. - FMT