The Court of Appeal today upheld a Kuala Lumpur High Court decision to award Shah Alam MP Khalid Samad RM60,000 in damages in his suit against Umno-owned daily Utusan Malaysia .

According to PAS organ Harakahdaily , Utusan ’s appeal was unanimously rejected by a three-member panel comprising of Justices Mohd Hishamudin Mohd Yunus, Azhar Ma’ah and Abdul Wahab Patail.

The court found that the appeal violated Section 68(1)(a) of the Courts of Judicature Act 1964, which requires that a leave be obtained for all appeals involving a quantum of less than RM250,000.

The court also instructed that Utusan pay Khalid RM10,000 in costs.

Justice Prasad Sandhosham had on Nov 21, 2011 found that the daily’s Sept 10, 2009 front page article entitled ‘ Zulkifli bidas ‘Pak Janggut ’’ was libellous against Khalid.

Khalid was represented by Azhana Khairudin from Mohamed Hanipa and Associates while Utusan was represented by Mohana Kumar from Tetuan Shafiee Mohan.