Farhash Fails To Obtain Temporary Injunction Against Malaysianow

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The Court of Appeal has dismissed the attempts of businessperson Farhash Wafa Salvador Rizal Mubarak and two others to obtain an ad interim injunction against MalaysiaNow and its editor Abdar Rahman Koya in an ongoing defamation suit.
The defendants’ lawyer Rajesh Nagarajan confirmed to Malaysiakini that the appellate court’s panel, chaired by judge Hashim Hamzah, dismissed the plaintiffs’ application this morning.
The application was filed before the plaintiffs’ substantive appeal hearing, where they had appealed against a Shah Alam High Court decision on Sept 4, which dismissed their injunction application against the same defendants.
“(Commonly) for defamation cases, interim injunction is not given unless the applicants can prove that the statement (that they are seeking to injunct against) is false.
“In this case, the plaintiffs could not do that, as they agreed the documents (behind MalaysiaNow‘s publications) are legit,” Rajesh said.
He added that the presiding judges with Hashim today were Ong Chee Kwan and Azizul Azmi Adnan.
The lawyer also told Malaysiakini that the Court of Appeal has yet to fix a date to hear the plaintiffs’ substantive appeal, while the Shah Alam High Court has fixed Oct 10 for case management in the defamation suit.
Defamation suit
Farhash, together with Bumi Suria Sdn Bhd and Aminudin Mustapha, filed a defamation suit against MalaysiaNow and Rahman on July 10, seeking RM10 million in damages over articles they claimed tarnished their reputation in the corporate world.
In their affidavits, the plaintiffs said the news articles affected their careers and business ties by depicting them as having abused their positions to obtain a mining licence illegally.
Apart from financial damages, the plaintiffs are also seeking aggravated, exemplary, and punitive damages, as well as a court order for the defendants to publish a full, unconditional, and public apology on the portal.
They also want five percent interest per annum and for the articles to be removed from the news site. - Mkini

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