YBK fails in claims agains Selangor MB and former state assemblyman

SHAH ALAM: The High Court here today dismissed a suit by filed by Yayasan Basmi Kemiskinan (YBK) against Selangor Mentri Besar Tan Sri Abdul Khalid Ibrahim and former Selangor assemblyman Yaakob Sapari allegedly for slandering the foundation at a press conference four years ago.
Judge Datuk Yaacob Md Sam ordered YBK and two other plaintiffs, Permodalan YBK Sdn Bhd (PYBK) and YBK chairman, Datuk Zainal Abidin Sakom each to pay RM30,000 to Abdul Khalid and RM10,000 to Yaakob as costs.
In a 98-page judgment, Yaacob said the state government, specifically Abdul Khalid had a legal, social and moral obligation as the state chief executive, leader and member of a political party with legitimate and reasonable expectations and interests to make the statements which were claimed to be slanderous to the plaintiffs.
This, he said, was to ensure that YBK or the PYBK were administered in a transparent manner and that the state government or Mentri Besar would get consistent reports from them about their programmes and activities on poverty eradication.
"The court finds the statements made by the first defendant (Abdul Khalid) and second defendant (Yaakob) to be reasonable or fair comments based on information as well as the government records or official documents.
"As such, the court feels that the defence by the first defendant that he, as Selangor Mentri Besar and the second defendant as a state assemblyman (then) had a legal, social and moral obligation to ensure land belonging to YBK or PYBK were administered well and in the public interest," he said.
He also rejected the arguments by the three plaintiffs who were represented by counsel Hasnal Rezua Merican that YBK as a trust fund and PYBK as a corporate entity had no connection with the Selangor state government, and as such had no obligation to report to it or for the Selangor government to stay out of the YBK's affairs.
In connection to this, he said, the court found Abdul Khalid and Yaakob to have successfully proven the balance of probabilities that their statements were protected by the defence of fair comment based on public or general interest and the defence of qualified privilege based on facts.
Judge Yaacob also found all the plaintiffs to have failed to prove malice on the part of Abdul Khalid, who was represented by counsel Edmund Bon, and Yaakob, represented by counsel Yusof Rahmat, in connection to the words which allegedly defamed them (the plaintiffs).
On the counter claim by Abdul Khalid who had requested to strike out the suit, the judge said that on Aug 10, 2012, the High Court here had rejected the application with costs and the appeal that followed at the Appeals Court was also rejected while the Mentri Besar's application for leave to appeal to the Federal Court was also dismissed.
"Based on these facts, the court is of the opinion that the actions by the plaintiffs did not have ulterior motives or intended to harass the first defendant (Abdul Khalid). It was a reasonable course of action and a full hearing was conducted.
"Thus the court finds the first defendant (Abdul Khalid) failed to prove balance of probabilities in his counter claim. The counter claim by the first defendant is thus rejected with RM5,000 costs to be paid by him to the plaintiffs and the amount can be set-off by the plaintiff from the costs that must be paid to Abdul Khalid," he said.
In their statement of claim, the plaintiffs alleged that Abdul Khalid on Feb 24, 2010 had issued a media statement at a press conference entitled "New Information on YBK" and all the contents were reported by the newspaper Suara Keadilan until March 9, 2010 under the headline "Zainal Sakom Gadai Tanah YBK".
According to the plaintiffs, Yaakob then made a statement describing Zainal Abidin's act of mortgaging state land so as to fulfil his personal desires as well as those of his friends as a treacherous act and the statement was published in the same newspaper under the headline "Zainal Sakom Gadai Tanah YBK".
Subsequently Zainal Abidin claimed that on April 5, 2010, the website http://tvselangor.com published an article with the headline "Kemelut YBK: MB Marah Orang Melayu Tipu Melayu" which reported statements made by Abdul Khalid.
He said all allegations made were baseless, untrue and a serious defamation which adversely affected his reputation and good name in the eyes of the public.
He has sought general, exemplary and aggravated damages, interest at eight per cent, costs and other relief deemed fit by the court.
He had also sought an injunction to prevent the defendants from continuing to publish defamatory words against them. – Bernama