Federal Court rejects Musa Hassan’s leave to appeal, upholding RM250,000 damages awarded to Hannah Yeoh in defamation suit.
PUTRAJAYA: The Federal Court here today dismissed former Inspector-General of Police Tan Sri Musa Hassan’s application for leave to appeal against the Court of Appeal’s ruling, which ordered him to pay RM250,000 in damages to Federal Territories Minister Hannah Yeoh in a defamation suit.
The leave application was unanimously rejected by a three-member panel comprising Justices Datuk Rhodzariah Bujang, Datuk Che Mohd Ruzima Ghazali and Datuk Azmi Ariffin, which held that the nine proposed questions of law raised by Musa lacked novel points warranting the court’s determination.
“The leave is rejected as it failed to meet the high threshold required, was fact sensitive and was not of public importance,” said Justice Rhodzariah.
The panel also ordered Musa to pay RM50,000 in costs to Hannah.
In order to obtain leave for a Federal Court appeal, an applicant must demonstrate that the proposed appeal raises novel legal or constitutional questions of public importance that have not been previously addressed and require further arguments.
In January this year, the Appeals Court had ruled in favour of Hannah and also set aside Kuala Lumpur High Court’s decision dated Dec 23, 2024, which dismissed her suit against Musa and ordered her to pay RM40,000 in costs to Musa.
Hannah filed the suit in 2020 against the former top cop over statements he made at the forum on Jan 30, 2020. Hannah was present in court today.
Speaking to the media after the proceedings, Hannah thanked her legal team and the court, saying that finally justice had prevailed, and she also reminded that it would be a lesson to anyone who attempts to exploit issues relating to race and religion.
Musa attended today’s proceedings.
Lawyer Awang Armadajaya Awang Mahmud appeared for Musa, while Razlan Hadri Zulkifli acted for the minister.
