00:01The Court of Appeal has overturned a High Court ruling
00:04ordering former Housing and Local Government Minister Zuraida Kamarudin
00:08and two others to pay RM50,000 in damages
00:11to DAP advisor Lim Guan-ing for defamation.
00:14A three-member bench unanimously allowed the appeals by Zuraida
00:18and her co-appellants while dismissing Lim's cross-appeal for higher damages.
00:22Justice Firuz Jafril said the article did not carry the defamatory meaning
00:26alleged by Lim.
00:27He also noted that the High Court's judgement contained obvious errors.
00:32The panel also found that the High Court had assessed the defence of justification
00:36mainly through documentary evidence
00:38but without properly considering exchanges between the two former ministers.
00:43Firuz also pointed to inconsistencies in the trial judge's findings
00:47noting that although the judge identified malice in one section
00:50she simultaneously concluded there was no evidence of malice in another.
00:54Lim sued Zuraida in 2024 over statements made about him
00:58concerning a housing project for former plantation workers in Bestarijaya, Selangor.
01:03In March, the High Court ruled in his favour
01:05finding the statement's defamatory and awarding him RM50,000 in damages.
01:10Zuraida and her co-defendants appealed against the decision
01:14while Lim's cross-appeal sought an increase in damages to RM250,000.
01:19Lim's lawyer S.N. Nair told reporters he would seek Lim's instructions
01:23on whether to take the case to the federal court.
01:26Jun Yang, FMT.
