GEORGE TOWN: The High Court here today dismissed a defamation suit filed by businessman Datuk Seri Sabaruddin Ahmad against English daily ‘The Star’ and its journalist Imran Hilmy Tawfik Hilmy over an article published five years ago.
The suit concerned a report titled ‘Nasi Kandar Shakedown: Penang restaurant claims they are being harassed for protection money’, which appeared in the newspaper on Oct 16, 2020.
Judge Datuk Rozana Ali Yusoff ruled that the defendants,— the journalist and the publication — had not defamed the plaintiff and were protected by qualified privilege.
Rozana said the article involved matters of public interest, specifically public health and safety, and that the defence of qualified privilege had been successfully proven by the defendants.
The court ordered Sabaruddin to pay RM30,000 in costs to the defendants.
Counsels Nicholas Navaron and Soraya Sulaiman Ong represented Imran and The Star, while Sabaruddin was represented by S. Raveentharan and R. Asmeeta.
In April 2021, Sabaruddin filed the suit seeking damages, the removal of the article and a public apology.
The original article reported that the owner of a well-known nasi kandar restaurant in Penang had lodged a police report, alleging that he and his staff were being harassed for protection money.
The reporter interviewed the restaurant owner and his son, who claimed that a man referred to as a ‘Datuk’ had threatened that the restaurant would be vandalised and its staff harmed if the payments were not made.
