Apex court affirms
Rewcastle Brown, two
others defamed sultanah
Federal Court refuses trio leave to appeal as the prospects of success are slim.
This follows the refusal of a three-member bench to allow Rewcastle Brown, publisher Chong Ton Sin and printer Vinlin Press Sdn Bhd leave to appeal based on four legal questions posed for determination by the apex court.
Bench chairman Justice Nallini Pathmanathan said none of the questions framed met the threshold requirements of novelty and public importance as required under Section 96 of the Courts of Judicature Act 1964.
Nallini acknowledged that Rewcastle Brown’s book,
, formed an important basis for the 1MDB expose and said its significance cannot be underplayed.The Sarawak Report: The Inside Story of the 1MDB Expose
However, she said, it did not, and cannot, provide immunity to the author where there is defamation of a third party.
she said.The respondent (the sultanah) is entitled to equal treatment at law. The fact that she is a member of a royal family does not preclude her from bringing a claim and being treated as any member of the public,
Nallini said even if leave was granted, the appeal had slim prospects of success.
The court awarded the sultanah RM15,000 in costs.
Also on the panel hearing the application were Justices Zabariah Yusof and Vazeer Alam Mydin Meera.
On Dec 12 last year, a three-member Court of Appeal bench ordered the trio to pay Sultanah Nur Zahirah RM300,000 in damages jointly and severally, as well as RM120,000 in costs.
Justice Azahari Kamal Ramli, who delivered the unanimous decision of the appeals court, said the trial judge had erred in dismissing the suit in 2022.
Sultanah Nur Zahirah initiated the RM300 million defamation suit in 2018, claiming that Rewcastle Brown had disparaged her in the book, which tells the story of Sarawak Report’s investigation into the 1MDB scandal.
She claimed the statement suggested that she was involved in corrupt practices, had interfered in Terengganu’s administration and had used her status to influence the establishment of the Terengganu Investment Authority, as 1MDB was earlier known.
She further claimed that the statement could be construed to mean that she had helped Low Taek Jho, better known as Jho Low, secure his position as adviser to TIA.
In her defence, Rewcastle Brown claimed that she had made an honest mistake in identifying the key player in the impugned statement as the wife of the sultan. She claimed that she should have referred to the sultan’s sister instead.
Lawyer A Vishnu Kumar appeared for Sultanah Nur Zahirah while counsel Americk Sidhu represented the applicants.
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