Wednesday, October 11, 2023

Defamation judgment stands as Pua, Yeo withdraw appeal


FMT:

Defamation judgment stands as Pua, Yeo withdraw appeal



The DAP duo had been found liable for defaming former deputy minister Chew Mei Fun over land sale.



Chew Mei Fun (left) had successfully proved that she was defamed by DAP duo Tony Pua and Yeo Bee Yin through several publications in September 2017.


PUTRAJAYA: The High Court ruling which found DAP’s Tony Pua and Yeo Bee Yin liable for defaming a former deputy minister over the sale of a parcel of land has been maintained.

This comes after the lawyer for the duo, Syahredzan Johan, informed the Court of Appeal today he has instructions to withdraw the appeal.

Last year, the High Court instructed Pua and Yeo to pay RM350,000 in damages for defaming former deputy minister Chew Mei Fun over allegations she approved the sale of land at a lower value to MCA.

The appeal hearing was scheduled for today, but Syahredzan informed the three-member bench led by Justice Supang Lian about his clients’ instructions.

“The parties have also agreed to withdraw all appeals with no order to costs,” he told the bench.

Lawyer Rueben Mathiavaranam, appearing for Chew, confirmed the matter and added that he had instructions to withdraw a cross-appeal on the quantum of the damages with no order to costs.

Supang, who sat with Justices Hashim Hamzah and Wong Kian Kheong, then struck out the appeals.

“We thank the parties for coming to a settlement today,” she said.

Chew had sued Pua and Yeo over allegations that she had approved the sale of a piece of land to Selangor MCA below its market price.

The allegations were made in 2017 when Chew was the deputy women’s development, family and community minister. Then, Pua was Petaling Jaya Utara MP, and Yeo was Damansara Utama assemblyman.

The duo had claimed Chew abused her power and put herself in a position of conflict of interest over the sale of the land.

However, Chew said she did not sit on the land committee as land matters were outside her purview.

On Nov 29 last year, High Court judge Roslan Abu Bakar said Chew, also a former MCA vice-president, had proven her case against the DAP duo on a balance of probabilities.

Pua and Yeo were ordered to pay Chew RM200,000 and RM150,000, respectively, in damages.

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