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Court fixes Sept 22 to hear T'ganu sultanah's appeal against Rewcastle-Brown
The Court of Appeal has fixed Sept 22 to hear Terengganu Sultanah Nur Zahirah’s appeal in her defamation suit against Sarawak Report founder Clare Rewcastle-Brown.
When contacted after case management of the appeal today, the state royal’s counsel Mohd Haaziq Pillay confirmed that the Appellate Court set the hearing date.
The Court of Appeal has fixed Sept 22 to hear Terengganu Sultanah Nur Zahirah’s appeal in her defamation suit against Sarawak Report founder Clare Rewcastle-Brown.
When contacted after case management of the appeal today, the state royal’s counsel Mohd Haaziq Pillay confirmed that the appellate court set the hearing date.
On Oct 31 last year, the High Court in Kuala Lumpur dismissed the sultanah’s civil action over statements in Rewcastle-Brown’s book ‘The Sarawak Report - The Inside Story of 1MDB’.
The civil court had ruled that from the perspective of a reasonable reader, the impugned statements do not give rise to several imputations complained of by the sultanah.
During the hearing of the civil action, the sultanah testified her denial of being involved in 1MDB’s predecessor Terengganu Investment Authority (TIA), while Rewcastle-Brown testified that it was an honest mistake on her part in relation to the alleged defamatory portion in the book.
The book’s later editions removed the purportedly defamatory portion.
Appeal filed
After the civil court ruling, the Sultanah filed an appeal to the Court of Appeal.
Back in Nov 21, 2018, the sultanah filed the defamation action which named not only Rewcastle-Brown but Gerakbudaya Enterprise publisher Chong Ton Sin and printing company Vinlin Press Sdn Bhd.
The plaintiff alleged that Rewcastle-Brown used defamatory statements in the book, which Vinlin Press printed in August 2018.
The plaintiff claimed she was not involved in either the administration or the setting up of TIA and alleged that the statements caused her embarrassment and tarnished her reputation.
She was seeking RM100 million in damages and wanted the second defendant Chong to withdraw the books containing the statements and to stop the third defendant Vinlin Press from printing more copies of the book.
In their statement of defence, the three defendants denied they had ever accused Nur Zahirah of being involved in corruption.
Counsel Haikaldin Mahyidin appeared for Rewcastle-Brown during today’s Court of Appeal matter.
Meanwhile, a separate criminal court case against Rewcastle-Brown in relation to the same portion of the book is still ongoing.
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