Blogger ordered to pay RM600,000 for defaming law firm

PUTRAJAYA: The Court of Appeal has ordered a blogger to pay RM600,000 in damages to a law firm after he lost a defamation suit over an article he had posted on the Internet.

The three-man panel comprising Justices Hishamudin Mohd Yunus, Zaharah Ibrahim and Azahar Mohamamed unanimously ruled on May 28 that Yap Chong Yee, an Australian citizen, had committed libel against the law firm of Messrs Lim & Hoh, comprising partners Hoh Fook Yoong and Hoh Foo Fah.

The court ruled that Yap would have to pay Messrs Lim & Hoh RM500,000 in general damages and RM100,000 in aggravated damages.

Messrs Lim & Hoh were also awarded RM40,000 in costs and granted an injunction against the defendant and his agents ordering them to desist from publishing, distributing and disseminating the defamatory remarks.

Kingston Tan appeared for Messrs Lim & Hoh and Bernard Francis represented Yap.

On Oct 12, 2009, Yap, a former advocate and solicitor of the High Court of Malaya, had published an article on his blog in the form of a letter to then Chief Justice of Malaysia Tun Zaki Tun Azmi, in which he mentioned the appellants.

In their statement of claim, Messrs Lim & Hoh claimed that the article contained words that had been written and published with malicious intent.

The appellants further claimed that the article imputed they had conspired to commit criminal acts and pervert the course of justice.

They added that from 2009 to the current date, the respondent had continued to publish letters of a similar nature with malicious intent.

The suit was initially dismissed by the High Court on Dec 30, 2011, but was later appealed to the Court of Appeal.