Tony Pua wins appeal against Syabas defamation suit (Updated)

PUTRAJAYA: PJ Utara MP Tony Pua need not pay Syabas RM200,000 in a defamation suit, after the Court of Appeal here allowed his appeal against the High Court order for damages.

The panel of judges lead by Justice Zaharah Ibrahim unanimously decided to set aside the Kuala Lumpur High Court's 2012 ruling that had found Pua's statements in a Chinese daily to be defamatory against Syabas.

"We have gone through the record of appeal and given plenty of time to both parties to present their arguments today. We are allowing the appeal with cost," Justice Zaharah ruled Wednesday.

The three-man panel, which also included Justices Anantham Kasinather and Mohd Ariff Mohd Yusof, ordered the water concessionaire to pay Pua RM50,000 in costs.

Syarikat Bekalan Air Selangor Sdn Bhd filed the suit against Pua on Jan 28 2011, claiming he had permitted Nanyang Siang Pau's Metro edition to publish words defamatory of it in an article on Nov 16, 2010, titled "Tony Pua: Selangor government must have water rights to prevent rate hike".

On Jun 6 last year, the Kuala Lumpur High Court ordered the DAP national publicity secretary to pay Syabas RM200,000 in damages in the defamation suit.

Justice Amelia Tee Hong Geok Abdullah rejected Pua's defence of qualified privilege, saying he had failed to give pertinent details about Syabas in his speech, which resulted in it being defamatory.

She also granted Syabas an injunction restraining Pua or his agents from further publishing the defamatory words.

Pua told reporters after the proceedings on Wednesday that the RM200,000 he had raised to pay the damages would probably be channelled to DAP's election fund.

He was represented by Gobind Singh, while Gopal Sreenevasan acted as counsel to Syabas.