PUTRAJAYA, Nov 2 — Former attorney general Tan Sri Mohamed Apandi Ali today failed to convince a three-judge panel at the Court of Appeal to reverse a High Court ruling in favour of DAP veteran Tan Sri Lim Kit Siang for defamation over a published article on the 1MDB scandal.
The Court of Appeal chaired by Datuk Hadhariah Syed Ismail unanimously ruled that Lim had successfully raised the defence of fair comment and justification to ward off the RM10 million suit.
“There is no merit in this appeal, the appeal is dismissed with cost.
“The decision of the High Court is affirmed,” Hadariah said in delivering judgment.
The other two judges on the Bench were Datuk M. Gunalan and Datuk Azmi Ariffin.
The Court Of Appeal also ordered Mohamed Apandi to pay Lim RM100,000 in cost.
Lawyer Rueben Mathiavaranam appeared for Apandi while Lim was represented by Sangeet Kaur Deo. Both men were present in court.
In today's judgment, the appellate court said Lim, as the then Iskandar Puteri MP, had a “moral duty” to raise the 1MDB financial scandal since it involved public funds.
The court said Apandi, who was the AG at the time, had been entrusted with the authority to direct investigations and prosecute those responsible without fear of favour.
Yet the court added that Mohamed Apandi sought to impede and obstruct the investigations through various efforts he undertook during office for the purpose of covering up the scandal.
The court said Mohamed Apandi had also failed to show any evidence to support his claim that he did not “aid and abet” then prime minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak in the scandal.
The court noted that Mohamed Apandi had ordered that the investigation papers be labelled NFA/KUS meaning No Further Action/Kertas Untuk Simpanan (papers to be stored) shortly after the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission had recommended charges to be filed.
The court noted further that Mohamed Apandi had refused to seek Mutual Legal Assistance even when there was a request from both MACC and other foreign agencies investigating the scandal, merely stating that such undertaking would “prejudice” local investigations.
“All these were not denied by the plaintiff,” Hadhariah said of Mohamed Apandi.
She added that he caused his own misfortune.
What was the case about
In his suit filed on July 5, 2019, Mohamed Apandi claimed that on May 6, 2019, Lim had written and caused to be published an article titled “Dangerous fallacy to think Malaysia’s on the road to integrity” in the Malaysiakini news portal.
Mohamed Apandi claimed the alleged libellous words in the article implied that he was involved in crime and had abetted in the 1MDB financial scandal, was a person with no morals and integrity, was unethical and had abused his power when he was the AG.
Mohamed Apandi, who was the AG from July 27, 2015, to June 4, 2018, contended that the libellous words were untrue and written with the intention of tarnishing his image and credibility for cheap publicity.
On May 23 last year, the High Court in Kuala Lumpur dismissed Mohamed Apandi’s suit against the DAP veteran.
The High Court ruled that the former lawmaker was justified in questioning Mohamed Apandi’s dismissive attitude to act on 1MDB and subsequently exonerated Najib of any criminal wrongdoings.
Mohamed Apandi filed the appeal against the High Court’s decision a day later.
MORE TO COME
