The Court of Appeal today slashed by half, damages awarded to Penang Chief Minister Lim Guan Eng in his defamation suit against New Straits Times Press (M) Bhd. 

In allowing the media group's appeal, the panel led by Mohd Zawawi Salleh instructed NSTP to pay Lim RM150,000, Utusan Malaysia reported. 

It also upheld that Berita Harian, a newspaper under the NSTP group, had defamed Lim.

The High Court had earlier this year awarded damages of RM300,000. 

In March 2016, Lim sued NSTP for publishing an article allegedly defamatory to him in its newspaper, Berita Harian on Aug 20, 2015, about his withdrawal the day before, of a lawsuit against the state Umno Youth chief.