PUTRAJAYA, Nov 2 — Former Attorney-General (AG) Tan Sri Mohamed Apandi Ali today failed in his appeal to set aside the decision of a High Court’s dismissal of his RM10 million defamation lawsuit against Tan Sri Lim Kit Siang.
A three-member bench comprising Court of Appeal judges Datuk Hadhariah Syed Ismail, Datuk M.Gunalan and Datuk Azmi Ariffin, in an unanimous decision dismissed Mohamed Apandi’s appeal after ruling that there is no merit to this appeal.
“The decision of the High Court is affirmed and the appellant (Mohamed Apandi) has to pay costs of RM100,000 to the respondent (Lim),” Justice Hadhariah said.
On May 23, last year, the High Court in Kuala Lumpur dismissed Mohamed Apandi’s suit against the DAP veteran and the former AG subsequently filed the appeal to the Court of Appeal on May 24 last year.
Mohamed Apandi sued Lim for allegedly defaming him in an article on the 1Malaysia Development Berhad (1MDB) scandal.
Justice Hadhariah when reading out today’s decision, said in this case, Lim stated that he has a right to know how the 1MDB financial scandal was investigated by the authorities.
“We also agreed that as a member of parliament (Iskandar Puteri, Johor at that time), the defendant (Lim) had a duty to inquire into what was going on in regards to the investigation in relation to the 1MDB scandal.
“The 1MDB scandal is a phenomenal financial scandal involving public funds, where the former prime minister himself was involved. It is considered as the biggest financial scandal that the country has faced.
“As a member of parliament, the defendant had a duty to raise matters of public interest to his electorate, especially on a case of public money involving a prime minister (Najib). The readers on his blog, who include the people of Malaysia, have an inherent right to be informed of the developments of investigation into the scandal.
We find that the trial judge was correct in holding that impugned word by Lim was made on qualified privilege, she added.
