KUALA LUMPUR (Aug 25): Sultanah Nur Zahirah of Terengganu may testify at the High Court here in October via videoconferencing in her RM100 million suit against Sarawak Report editor Claire Rewcastle Brown and two others over a book on 1Malaysia Development Bhd (1MDB).
When contacted by theedgemarkets.com, her lawyer Datuk Mohd Haziq Pillay said they will apply to the court for this mode of videoconferencing to be chosen for security reasons.
"We will seek leave (permission) from the High Court judge for this," he said.
Yesterday, the Court of Appeal granted the appeal by Rewcastle Brown, Gerakbudaya Enterprise publisher Chong Ton Sin and printer Vinlin Press Sdn Bhd — the defendants in the suit — for the matter to go on trial based on testimonies and not via points of law or affidavit.
Justice Datuk Zabidin Md Diah, who sat with Datuk ES Nantha Balan and Datuk Lee Heng Chong, unanimously ruled that the High Court had erred and could not rule that a portion of the passage in the book The Sarawak Report: The Inside Story of the 1MDB Exposé to be the subject of a trial, while the three other passages were left out.
"The publication of the book must be read as a whole. It cannot be truncated under Order 14A of Rules of Court 2012. The plaintiff (Tuanku Nur Zahirah) ought not to pursue under Order 14A. It must be determined at trial.
"Questions 1, 2 and 3 will be determined at trial as with Question 4. We allow the appeal and set aside the decision on Dec 13, 2019," Justice Zabidin said.
Federal Court practice orders have allowed for civil proceedings to be conducted online following the Covid-19 pandemic.
Defamation suit claims Rewcastle Brown made disparaging statement about Sultanah in book
Rewcastle Brown and two others were appealing the 2019 High Court decision by Datuk Ahmad Zaidi Ibrahim — who has since been elevated to the Court of Appeal — in allowing Sultanah Nur Zahirah's application to dispense with the need for her to testify in person in her defamation suit. The court granted her application under Order 14A for the case to be decided through points of law.
The Sultanah in her suit has alleged that Rewcastle Brown made a disparaging statement about her in the book.
She claimed that the statement could be taken to mean that she was involved in corrupt practices and interfered in the state's administration, besides using her status to influence the establishment of the Terengganu Investment Authority (TIA), which later became 1MDB.
Sultanah Nur Zahirah also alleged that the statement had construed her as having helped businessman Low Taek Jho (Jho Low) become the adviser of TIA.
She contended that she had never involved herself in the administration of Terengganu and establishment of TIA (1MDB's predecessor), therefore the statement had slandered and tarnished her reputation.
The Sultanah is claiming general damages of RM100 million from each defendant and also seeking an order for the publisher to withdraw the book and for the printer to stop printing it.
Sultanah has 30 days to decide on whether to go to apex court
Haziq was also asked whether there was a chance his client may appeal yesterday's decision at the Federal Court.
He said while he had informed the Terengganu comptroller of yesterday's decision, there was no word yet on whether to appeal yesterday's decision.
"To appeal we need leave of the Federal Court. I do not have my client's instructions. So anything can happen between now and the 30 days," he said.
In civil matters, litigants have 30 days from the decision of the Court of Appeal to file leave to appeal to the Federal Court, which is the apex court.
It is not an automatic right for the merits of the appeal to be heard directly, as leave has to be obtained to ensure the application is not frivolous.