Court dismisses Khairul’s defamation suit against Rafizi
KUALA LUMPUR: The High Court yesterday dismissed Umno Youth deputy chief Khairul Azwan Harun’s defamation suit against PKR secretary-general Rafizi Ramli over the latter’s claim on the purchase of property by Majlis Amanah Rakyat (Mara) in Australia.
Judge S. Nantha Balan made the decision after finding that Rafizi had not defamed Khairul over possible abuse of funds.
In delivering his 83-page judgement, he said the reasonable conclusion or interpretation of the disputed paragraph in Rafizi’s press statement was a comment or opinion that there were individuals who should come forward and explain the property transactions.
“Taking the press release as a whole, the court finds that there is no imputation that suggests that the plaintiff (Khairul) is guilty of corruption or abuse of power. Rather it suggests that there are reasonable grounds for investigations to be conducted.
“I accept that it is embarrassing for the plaintiff to find his name being mentioned in the press release which pertains to a totally unpalatable topic but the reality of it is that the impugned words, when reasonably construed, did not suggest that the plaintiff was guilty of corruption or abuse of power,” said Nantha Balan.
The judge also ruled that it was Rafizi’s public duty to disclose wrongdoings involving public funds so that explanations and investigations might be carried out.
He added that there is absolutely no doubt that the property transactions involved public interest.
“The defendant (Rafizi) had gathered detailed information and documents concerning the property transactions. This is most certainly not a case where the defendant was ‘shooting from his hip’. Rather, he had undertaken a fair amount of research before going public with the expose of the property transactions,” Nantha Balan said.
The court also found that claims by Khairul that Rafizi had acted recklessly in defaming him had not been established.
Khairul was ordered to pay RM73,000 in costs to Rafizi.