The Court of Appeal in Putrajaya today dismissed appeals brought by former Teratai assemblyperson Jenice Lee Ying Ha and acting DAP national chairperson Tan Kok Wai in two defamation suits.

A three-person panel chaired by Justice Rohana Yusuf ruled there was no reason to interfere with the decisions of the High Courts.

Presiding with her were justices Idrus Harun and Mary Lim Thiam Suan.

Lee was appealing against a High Court’s dismissal of her defamation suit which she filed against Tan, alleging he had uttered defamatory statements against her to reporters on April 23, 2013, the third day of campaigning for the 13th general election.

She claimed Tan’s statements were published by Chinese news portals and had damaged her position, credibility, integrity and reputation as a person and in politics.

Tan was appealing against another High Court decision in dismissing his defamation suit against Lee.

In his civil suit, he claimed Lee had posted defamatory statements against him through her Facebook postings and text messages sent to reporters on July 3, 2014.

Tan alleged the statements implied he would be seeking a court order to ban the media from covering Lee’s then-ongoing defamation suit against him.

Lawyer Gobind Singh Deo, appearing for Tan, told reporters that both appeals were dismissed and the court also ordered the parties to bear their own costs.

- Bernama