The Court of Appeal dismisses Mugilan's appeal on his defamation action and orders him to pay costs to the news portal.
PETALING JAYA: The Court of Appeal today upheld a High Court verdict dismissing MIC deputy youth leader V Mugilan’s defamation suit against online news portal Free Malaysia Today (FMT).
“In a brief oral judgment, the Court of Appeal made a unanimous finding that FMT had succeeding in proving its defence to the claim. Therefore, the appeal was dismissed,” said FMT lawyer Clement Lopez today.
He added that the court also instructed Mugilan to pay RM10,000 in costs.
On Oct 15, 2012, Judicial Commissioner Ahmad Zaki Husin of the Shah Alam High Court had said FMT’s article entitled “MIC’s Mugilan accused of swindling temple” did not, when read as a whole, impute that Mugilan had committed any criminal offence as alleged by him in the suit.
He then ordered Mugilan to pay RM30,000 in costs.
The FMT article was about a police report filed by the Serendah Indian Community Association alleging the sum of RM400,000 had been paid out without proper authorisation from funds held by the Sri Selva Vinayaga Temple.
The report also quoted Mugilan as denying the allegation, saying the money was used to pay a deposit to a contractor appointed to build a crematorium.
He sued for damages, claiming the article was false and constituted libel against him.
PETALING JAYA: The Court of Appeal today upheld a High Court verdict dismissing MIC deputy youth leader V Mugilan’s defamation suit against online news portal Free Malaysia Today (FMT).“In a brief oral judgment, the Court of Appeal made a unanimous finding that FMT had succeeding in proving its defence to the claim. Therefore, the appeal was dismissed,” said FMT lawyer Clement Lopez today.
He added that the court also instructed Mugilan to pay RM10,000 in costs.
On Oct 15, 2012, Judicial Commissioner Ahmad Zaki Husin of the Shah Alam High Court had said FMT’s article entitled “MIC’s Mugilan accused of swindling temple” did not, when read as a whole, impute that Mugilan had committed any criminal offence as alleged by him in the suit.
He then ordered Mugilan to pay RM30,000 in costs.
The FMT article was about a police report filed by the Serendah Indian Community Association alleging the sum of RM400,000 had been paid out without proper authorisation from funds held by the Sri Selva Vinayaga Temple.
The report also quoted Mugilan as denying the allegation, saying the money was used to pay a deposit to a contractor appointed to build a crematorium.
He sued for damages, claiming the article was false and constituted libel against him.
No comments:
Post a Comment