The Court of Appeal has unanimously allowed Petaling Jaya Utara MP Tony Pua to reinstate two paragraphs and exhibits in his bid to strike out Prime Minister Najib Abdul Razak’s defamation suit against him.

The three-member panel headed by the appellate court judge Rohana Yusuf today said there is merit in Pua’s appeal, and reversed the Kuala Lumpur High Court’s decision to expunge the paragraphs and exhibits.

The costs are to be assessed by the High Court.

However, Najib’s counsel Mohd Hafarizam Harun said today’s decision would not have bearing on the case.

“The Court of Appeal decision today means that exhibits such as official searches of the Companies Commission of Malaysia (CCM) database and reports on blogs regarding 1MDB would be tendered in court, but the CCM searches and reports about 1MDB would not change the issue whether my client has locus standi or not. That has yet to be decided.

“So in short, there is no effect in this appeal being allowed, because what would be decided on is locus standi,” he told reporters after the hearing in Putrajaya today.

Nevertheless, Hafarizam (photo) said he would seek Najib’s instruction on whether to appeal the case to the Federal Court.

The other panel members on the bench today are Mary Lim Yee Lan and Idrus Harun.

Lawyer Alliff Benjamin Suhaimi appeared for Pua.

Najib had sued Pua and Mediarakyat.net portal owner Chan Chee Kong for defamation on March 5 last year, in his personal capacity, for allegedly implying that he had stolen money from 1MDB and would continue to steal money.

Pua had sought to strike out the suit by claiming that Najib had no locus standi to sue because he is a public official.

However, following Najib’s application through his lawyers, the High Court expunged paragraphs nine and ten from Pua’s application and the accompanying exhibits.

Paragraph nine pertains to 1MDB’s corporate structure, and is backed by documents obtained from SSM and printouts from 1MDB’s website.

Paragraph ten is Pua’s affirmation that the 1MDB issue is an issue that has been reported in mass media and is a matter of public interest, and this argument is backed by news articles on the issue.

Hafarizam had contended that this amounts to hearsay, unless affidavits from witnesses such as SSM officers and journalists who wrote the news articles are also tendered in court.

Alliff meanwhile argued that the application to strike out Najib’s suit is an interlocutory matter, and the Rules of Court permits hearsay to be admitted as evidence in interlocutory matter provided that it is backed by documents, and the applicant holds it to be true.

Speaking to reporters later, he said the application to strike out Najib’s suit is currently fixed for case management on Dec 1, before judicial commissioner Roslan A Bakar.

The Court of Appeal today also heard two applications related to a separate defamation suit involving Najib and his wife Rosmah Mansor as plaintiffs, and Chang and Pandan MP Mohd Rafizi Ramli as respondents.

In the suit lodged in April last year, Najib and Rosmah accused Rafizi and Chang of attacking their reputation by implying that they had committed theft by pocketing subsidy money for themselves.

The court has fixed tomorrow morning to announce its decision on the two applications from Najib.