Utusan Malaysia to pay RM200,000 to Guan Eng for defamation

GEORGE TOWN: The High Court has ordered Utusan Malaysia to pay RM200,000 in damages to Chief Minister Lim Guan Eng over a word used in an article in 2008.

Lim's defamation suit was against Utusan Melayu (M) Sdn Bhd over the article dated March 12, 2008, under the heading Tiada Lagi DEB' (No More DEB).

Judicial Commissioner Nurmala Salim said there was malice when the newspaper published something that Lim had not said during a press conference.

Lim had testified on Jan 11 that he did not say he was going to abolish or menghapuskan' the NEP but that he would run the government administration free from the NEP that breeds cronyism, corruption and systematic inefficiency.

On Dec 13 last year, Utusan Malaysia was also ordered to pay RM200,000 in damages to Lim for publishing a defamatory article concerning the latter. (Guan Eng wins suit against Utusan).

Justice Varghese George Varughese said seven paragraphs containing the defamatory words were malicious, had intention to mislead readers and was written in bad faith.