The Court of Appeal today dismissed the Federal Land Development Authority’s (Felda) appeal in a RM200 million defamation suit against former deputy minister and now PKR disciplinary committee chairperson Dr Tan Kee Kwong.

In a majority 2-1 decision, the three-member panel headed by Justice Sulaiman Daud upheld the Kuala Lumpur High Court’s decision in dismissing Felda’s appeal.

Justice Linton Albert and Justice Alizatul Khair Osman Khairuddin ruled in favour of Dr Tan, while Justice Sulaiman dissented.

Three issues were brought up in the appeal by Felda, namely can it as a governing body sue an individual, whether the statement as reported in Suara Keadilan quoting Dr Tan is defamatory of Felda, and finally whether Dr Tan really uttered those words.

ft gerakan pc 290408 tan kee kwong The three-member panel found that Felda as a government agency can sue an individual and also found the report to be defamatory, but was not satisfied whether Dr Tan ( left ) had indeed uttered the words to the PKR mouthpiece Suara Keadilan .

“As the court is not satisfied whether Dr Tan indeed uttered the words, the court dismisses the suit.”

On Aug 11 last year, KL High Court judge Zabariah Mohd Yusof had ruled that while the article is defamatory, Felda had failed to prove that Dr Tan made the remarks.

Felda had during the trial failed to call the reporter who had written the article concerned, she noted.

“It is the burden of the plaintiff (Felda) to prove that the defendant published or caused to be published the alleged defamatory words. It is my finding that the plaintiff has not proven that the defendant had uttered those defamatory words to ( Suara Keadilan reporter) Faizal Zakaria. Faizal was not called to testify.”

Justice Zabariah said it was never an agreed fact that Tan uttered those words to the reporter.

Lawyers Ranjit Singh, Razlan Hadri Zulkifli and Ho Kok Yew appeared for Dr Tan today while Firoz Hussein Ahmad Jamaluddin and Mahinder Singh Dooku appeared for Felda.

Tan was sued for RM200 million by Felda and its subsidiary, Felda Global Ventures Holdings Sdn Bhd, for defamation.