Malaysiakini fails to strike out Taib’s defamation suit
Posted on March 18, 2011, Friday
Posted on March 18, 2011, Friday
KUALA LUMPUR: Malaysiakini yesterday failed to strike out a defamation suit by Sarawak Chief Minister Pehin Sri Abdul Taib Mahmud after the High Court here dismissed its application.
Justice Datuk John Louis O’hara said after looking at the defendant’s submission, the court found that the constitutional issue raised by Malaysiakini that there ‘can never be cause of action’ was baseless and it was not an abuse of the court process.
The judge said that he arrived at the decision after looking at provisions of the Defamation Act and the Federal Constitution. He also ordered Mkini Dotcom which owned the online news portal to pay costs of RM10,000 to Taib, the plaintiff. However, the judge did not set the date for hearing of the defamation suit. In 2007, Taib filed the suit after Malaysiakini ran a series of 12 articles from April 6 to May 3, 2007 which he claimed contained defamatory words against him.
