GEORGE TOWN: The High Court here today ordered a Penang PKR assemblyman to pay RM280,000 in damages to four state Umno lawmakers, over a defamatory statement made two years ago.
PKR's Seberang Jaya assemblyman Dr Afif Bahardin was also ordered to pay RM40,000 in cost to Tasek Gelugor member of parliament Datuk Shahbudin Yahaya, Teluk Air Tawar assemblyman Datuk Jahara Hamid, Permatang Berangan assemblyman Omar Abd Hamid and Sugai Dua assemblyman Muhamad Yusoff Mohd Noor.
In his hour-long judgment, Judicial Commissioner Lim Chong Fong said the four plantiffs had successfully proven that the offensive statement made by Dr. Afif during a ceramah on April 17, 2014 had been in reference to them.
Lim said the plaintiffs had also successfully established that the statement “Ni TUDM Tasek Gelugor, Butterworth, Ahli Parlimen Umno, tiga-tiga DUN Umno, Ketua Pembangkang, habis jual kepada syarikat kroni TUDM Butterworth” was defamatory.
“The defendant’s defence of justification and fair comment failed as the court found that there was malice in his statement,” he said.
Lim also said that Dr Afif’s libel counterclaim against the plaintiff's over a rebuttal statement made by the plaintiffs in a subsequent press conference had also failed.
“It is not disputed that the rebuttal statement was directed to the defendant. However, the statement when read as a whole was not defamatory,” he said.
Lim also ordered Dr Afif to pay 5 per cent interest per annum starting from Sept 9, 2014.
The four plaintiffs had filed a defamation suit against the defendant over a statement made during his speech at a Himpunan Reformasi 2.0 at the Seberang Jaya Expo site.
In their statement of claim, the plaintiffs stated that the words taken in its ordinary meaning implied that the plaintiffs were untrustworthy leaders who had abused its power by selling the the Butterworth Royal Malaysia Air Force land to its crony companies, without going through the proper sale process, for their personal benefit.