The High Court in Kuala Lumpur has today ordered Umno owned daily Utusan Malaysia to pay RM200,000 to Petaling Jaya Utara MP Tony Pua following a defamatory article in the daily last year claiming he did not know how to run a business.

The cited defamatory paragraphs were retracted from the publication of the article titled ' Tony, Anwar dirujuk jawatankuasa hak, kebebasan ' dated Nov 14, last year, resulting in the court to make judgment on Utusan without going to trial.

The daily had quoted a former DAP member by the name of Tan Tuan Tat.

Justice Hue Siew Kheng assessed the damages today and also ordered Utusan to pay RM15,000 costs.

This was confirmed by Pua's lawyer Guok Ngek Seong to Malaysiakini .

Pua ( photo ) named the daily publisher Utusan Melayu (M) Bhd as the sole defendant.

He complained that the defamatory words in the article had put him in a bad light as if he is a politician who is immoral, not credible, seeks cheap publicity, running a bankrupt business, being a failed and an inefficient businessperson.

It is understood the article was published following Pua's attack on the 1MDB, which is undergoing probe by the Public Accounts Committee where the Petaling Jaya Utara MP is also a member.

Utusan was represented by lawyer Elly Azreen Khalid.

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