PUTRAJAYA, Jan 27 — Sistem Televisyen Malaysia Bhd (TV3) won leave today to challenge an appellate court’s ruling that it defamed Datuk Seri Mohammad Nizar Jamaluddin in 2012 during the uproar over the Johor Sultan’s bid for the WWW1 vehicle registration number.

The television station is claiming judicial bias as the Court of Appeal judge who presided over the case purportedly knows the plaintiff outside the courtroom.

The five-man Federal Court bench led by Justice Tan Sri Md Raus Sharif today refrained, however, from deciding on another appeal by local daily Utusan Malaysia in a similar defamation case where the Court of Appeal had also ruled in favour of Nizar.

The apex court said today that it will decide on Utusan Malaysia’s appeal later, pending its disposal of the case involving TV3, which it has not yet decided when to hear.

Other judges on the bench include Tan Sri Richard Malanjum, Tan Sri Suriyadi Halim Omar, Tan Sri Mohamed Apandi Ali, and Datuk Zaharah Ibrahim.

In the application, TV3’s lawyer Liew Teck Huat claimed that Justice Datuk Mohamad Arif Yusof who headed the three-man Court of Appeal bench had recused himself from a case in 2009 for knowing the plaintiff, but did not do so in this instance, which could be perceived as judicial bias by the public.

The case will be sent back to the Court of Appeal for a retrial with a new panel of judges if the Federal Court decides that the element of bias had been present, Liew told reporters after the hearing.

Nizar was represented by lawyer Mohd Fitri Asmuni, while Utusan was represented by Datuk Firoz Hussein Ahmad Jamaluddin.

The Court of Appeal ruled last year that TV3 was liable for defaming the former MB over his tweets on the WWW1 vehicle registration number that the Sultan of Johor successfully won in a bid.

The PAS leader had filed two defamation suits on July 11, 2012 — one against TV3 and another against Utusan Malaysia — seeking damages of RM50 million from each of the defendants.