Utusan Melayu (M) Bhd succeeded today in setting aside a High Court decision ordering it to pay RM200,000 in damages to Penang Chief Minister Lim Guan Eng for an alleged defamatory article.

Justice Badariah Sahamid in delivering the unanimous decision of the Court of Appeal held that the impugned word, ‘menghapuskan DEB’ if read in the context of the whole article, was not defamatory.

She said the word did not impute upon Lim any dishonourable or discreditable conduct.

Others in the panel were Hamid Sultan Abu Backer and Mohd Zawawi Salleh who acted as chairperson.

The court also ordered Lim to pay RM50,000 in legal costs to Utusan Melayu.

The decision that Utusan Melayu had appealed against was made by the Penang High Court on June 22, 2012.

The decision had favoured Lim who sued Utusan Melayu over an article with the heading ‘DEB-Guan Eng Tetap Berdegil’, that was published by the Malay daily on March 15, 2008.

“We are glad that justice has been finally served in this case,” said Utusan Melayu’s counsel Mohana Kumar.

Meanwhile, Lim’s counsel Sangeet Kaur Deo said she was seriously considering to appeal against the Court of Appeal’s decision to the Federal Court but would await instructions from Lim.

- Bernama