Defunct online news portal The Malaysian Insider (TMI) will apologise to settle a defamation suit brought by Malaysian Resources Corporation Berhad (MRCB) in a High Court in Kuala Lumpur .

This was over an article TMI carried in both the English and Bahasa Malaysia versions on MRCB, which won a bid for an LRT3 project.

It had published the article titled "MRCB-George Kent’s win with RM11.5 billion LRT3 bid shocking, say industry insiders" on Sept 14, 2015.

The Bahasa Malaysia version titled "Perlantikan MRCB-George Kent bina LRT 3 dengan kontrak RM11.5 bilion mengejutkan, kata sumber" was published on the same date.

The apology will be published in The Edge Financial Daily and Edge Market, both owned by The Edge Media Group (TEMG), which also owns TMI.

MRCB, the joint contractor that bid for an LRT3 project last year, had named TMI's publisher Edge Insider Sdn Bhd and the author Amin Shah Iskandar as defendants.

The consent order was recorded in chambers by Justice John Louis O' Hara.

MRCB was represented by Sunil Abraham from Cecil Abraham & Partners while Kimberly Lee of Raja Darryl & Loh appeared on behalf of the defendants.

The TMI article quoted sources as saying MRCB and its project delivery partner George Kent (M) had secured the project for RM11.5 billion.

This was RM2.5 billion higher than the RM9 billion cost determined by Prasarana, the asset owner and operator of the light railway transit (LRT).

Quoting a document it had sighted, TMI reported MRCB's tender was the third lowest of six tenders submitted.

It reported that the UEM consortium had submitted a tender for RM9.88 billion while the lowest bid was for RM9.5 billion.

In its statement of claim, MRCB said the article had made it appear as if the firm lacked the necessary expertise and competence to build LRT3.

The article also depicted the plaintiff and the consortium as having exerted undue influence or conducted themselves improperly when securing the project, said MRCB.

"It shows the plaintiff is a deceitful and unethical company," lamented MRCB.

It further said the report had portrayed the plaintiff as committing a corrupt scheme to defraud the government by siphoning money through the Prasarana project.

MRCB demanded that the defendants publish a complete retraction of all defamatory statements and apologise on the website.

On November 2015, Prime Minister Najib Abdul Razak had denied TMI's report and assured the cost of LRT3 would be contained at RM9 billion.

In April, Prasarana said the tender for the LRT3 project was expected to be awarded in the second half of the year.

The Star reported last month that 96 companies were shortlisted for various packages for the construction of the 37km LRT3, which will connect Bandar Utama to Johan Setia.