GEORGE TOWN: Penang Chief Minister Lim Guan Eng won a defamation suit against heritage activist Jimmy Lim, Free Malaysia Today (FMT) operator M-Today News Sdn Bhd and its former journalist S. Karunakaran.
Judicial Commissioner Datuk Nordin Hassan ordered the three defendants to pay Lim RM300,000 in damages with a 5 per cent interest per annum and RM30,000 in legal costs.
In his judgement, Nordin said the court had taken into account the arguments of both parties and found that the online article published by FMT had defamed Lim and caused injury to his reputation.
"The story is found to be libellous and has damaged the plaintiff's reputation and standing.” he said.
Nordin also ordered the online article to be retracted.
In the suit, Lim alleged that he was defamed by Jimmy Lim, FMT and Athi Shankar (Karunakaran’s nom de plume) in an article titled “Guan Eng has failed, says NGO”, which was published on FMT on Dec 6, 2013.
Lim was represented by counsel Datuk Murali Navaretnam, while Lawyers Baljit Singh, V. Amareson and Rowena Yam represented Jimmy Lim.
Clement Lopez acted for second defendant M-Today News Sdn Bhd, the holding company of FMT, and third defendant Karunakaran.
Lopez said his client will appeal to ‘protect journalistic integrity’.