00:00The Court of Appeal has unanimously dismissed Penang tycoon Tan Kokping's defamation appeal
00:04against Chief Minister Chao Korn Yao.
00:07A three-member bench led by Justice Alwi Abdul Wahab found that the High Court had made
00:12no error of fact or law that warranted appellate intervention.
00:16Tan, the live president of the Penang Chinese Chamber of Commerce,
00:20had sued Chao over remarks linked to his resignation as a trustee of the Silver Jubilee Home for the Aged.
00:26According to Bulletin Mutiara, Chao had said the home plan to build a workers' hostel without an open tender
00:32while stressing that the land belonged to the Silver Jubilee Fund, not Tan.
00:37Tan had resigned from the board with two other trustees following a falling out with Chao, who chairs the board.
00:43Alwi noted that Chao had successfully established the defences of justification, fair comment, and qualified privilege.
00:50The court also found that Tan had failed to prove malice when the statement was made.
00:54The High Court had dismissed Tan's suit last year on similar grounds, leading to the appeal.
00:59According to its website, the Silver Jubilee Home for the Aged occupies about nine hectares of land in Galugur
01:04and was established in 1935 to commemorate the Silver Jubilee of King George V.
01:09It was established under the Penang and Province Wellesley Jubilee Fund Ordinance 1935
01:15and is now overseen by the Chief Minister as Chairman together with three other trustees.
01:21Jocelyn Kaur, FMT.
