Court orders NST, MACC to pay lawyer RM300,000 in defamation suit
(The Star) – A High Court here has ordered The New Straits Times (NST) and the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC) to pay lawyer Rosli Dahlan a total of RM300,000 in damages in a defamation suit filed by Rosli against them.
Justice Siti Khadijah S. Hassan Badjenid ordered NST and MACC to pay RM150,000 damages each and RM35,000 costs each.
Justice Siti Khadijah said the court found that the article was false and defamatory and the law presumed malice on the part of NST.
She said NST was motivated by commercial consideration in writing the articles and NST as the premier newspaper wanted to be known as leading newspaper in obtaining and publishing news.
She said NST article was written in such a manner not just to attract public attention by its sensational news but also to maintain its position among the public that it was the fastest in publishing the latest news.
“The court found that NST readers have been misinformed by the stint defamation in making the public believed that Rosli was not an ethical lawyer and had committed an offence by hiding a police officer’s assets worth RM27mil,” she said Friday.
Justice Siti Khadijah said by linking the article to MACC sources was also an offence under Section 21 (4) of the MACC Act as the news was untrue to confuse the public.
In his suit filed in Oct 2009, Rosli had named The New Straits Times Press (Malaysia) Berhad, the then NST chief editor Zainul Ariffin Mohammed Isa, former NST reporter V. Anbalagan, Anti-Corruption Agency (ACA), MACC and two senior MACC officers Shamsun Baharin Mohd Jamil and Zulkifli Hamzah.
Rosli said that NST had published two articles on Oct 12 and Oct 13, 2007 and following that the article was published in the MACC website and magazine.
The article on Oct 12 reported that ACA arrested a lawyer over undeclared assets worth RM27mil allegedly amassed by a senior police officer and the ACA was investigating the possibility that the assets were being held under Rosli’s name.
Rosli said in their natural meaning, the words in the articles in NST and the MACC magazine were meant, among others, that he was unlawfully in possession of RM27mil worth of assets belonging to senior police officer Datuk Ramli Yusof.
