The apex court has set May 30 to hear Clare Rewcastle-Brown’s application for leave to appeal against a ruling for her to pay RM300,000 in defamation damages to Terengganu Sultanah Nur Zahirah.
The Federal Court fixed the hearing date during case management of the appeal by the founder of the whistleblower portal Sarawak Report and two others.
When contacted by Malaysiakini this afternoon, lawyers Haikaldin Mahyidin and Mohd Haaziq Pillay - acting for Rewcastle-Brown (above) and the state royal respectively - confirmed the appeal leave application hearing.
Unlike criminal case appeals, civil case appeals require leave from the Federal Court before they can be considered for hearing before the apex court.
Civil appeals need to cross the threshold for leave per Section 96 of the Courts of Judicature Act 1964, which requires such appeals to involve “a question of general principle decided for the first time or a question of importance upon which further argument and a decision of the Federal Court would be to public advantage”.
On Dec 12 last year, the Court of Appeal ordered Rewcastle-Brown and two others - Gerakbudaya Enterprise publisher Chong Ton Sin and printing company Vinlin Press Sdn Bhd - to pay RM300,000 in defamation damages to Nur Zahirah.
In allowing the royal’s appeal, the appellate court also ordered Rewcastle-Brown and the other two to pay RM120,000 in legal costs to Nur Zahirah.
The appellate court ruled that Rewcastle-Brown defamed Nur Zahirah through the Sarawak Report founder’s book “The Sarawak Report - The Inside Story of the 1MDB Expose”.
The sultanah was appealing against the Kuala Lumpur High Court ruling in October last year, which dismissed her civil action.
Tarnished reputation
On Nov 21, 2018, Nur Zahirah filed the suit, alleging defamatory statements were carried in the book, which Vinlin Press printed in August 2018.
The plaintiff claimed she was not involved in either the administration or the setting up of the state-owned Terengganu Investment Authority (TIA), which later became fully owned by the federal government as 1MDB - and alleged that the statements caused her embarrassment and tarnished her reputation.
She was seeking RM100 million in damages and wanted the second defendant Chong to withdraw the books containing the statements, as well as stop the third defendant Vinlin Press from printing more copies of the book.
In their statement of defence, the three defendants denied they had ever accused Nur Zahirah of being involved in corruption.
A separate criminal court case against Rewcastle-Brown concerning the same portion of the book is now the subject matter of an appeal before the Kuala Terengganu High Court. - Mkini
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