The High Court in Kuala Lumpur today dismissed the application by Malaysiakini to strike out long-time Sarawak Chief Minister Abdul Taib Mahmud's defamation suit against the news portal.

NONE High Court judge John Louis O Hara ( left ) in delivering his decision today said Taib’s lawsuit was not a plain and obvious case to be struck out.

"Following this, the striking-out application is dismissed," O Hara said.

In his decision, O Hara rejected the constitutional issue raised by Malaysiakini that there can never be a cause of action against the defendant and the suit was an abuse of the court process.

He said he had looked at the Defamation Act and the Federal Constitution in arriving at his decision.

The judge also ordered Malaysiakini to pay costs of RM10,000.

NONE Taib ( right ) sued Malaysiakini in 2007 for defamation when the portal ran a series of reports quoting Japanese newspapers.

These highlighted investigations by the Japanese tax authorities against members of a shipping cartel that transported logs from Sarawak.

The cartel members had allegedly paid RM32 million in kickbacks to Regent Star, a Hong Kong-based paper manufacturing company reportedly linked to Taib and his family.

The issue was picked up by numerous news organisations in Japan and elsewhere.

Malaysiakini had followed up with its own report a week later, and subsequently produced a series of special reports on the controversy - 'RM32 mil kickbacks - tip of the iceberg' .

Meanwhile, Taib is appealing to the Federal Court to overturn the Court of Appeal's decision to throw out its application to remove three crucial parts from Malaysiakini 's defence.

The leave application will be heard on May 9.

Malaysiakini is represented by counsel K Shanmuga and Fahri Azzat while Yee Mei Ken appeared for Taib.