SEREMBAN: The High Court here has dismissed a RM20mil defamation suit filed by a company against Rasah MP Cha Kee Chin related to a plan to build an incinerator.
Judicial Commissioner Haldar Abdul Aziz in dismissing the suit filed by SPM Resources Sdn Bhd against Cha - who is also state DAP secretary - ruled that the plaintiff had failed to prove its case on the balance of probabilities.
Cha's lead counsel Lee Kai Yet when met later said Haldar had delivered his judgment via zoom.
"The court opined that on a balance of probabilities, the plaintiff had failed to prove that the statements made by the defendant were defamatory," he said.
Lee said the court also ordered the plaintiff to pay RM50,000 in costs although the defence had asked for RM100,000.
SPM Resources had claimed RM10mil in general damages, RM5mil in punitive damages and another RM5mil in exemplary damages from Cha for making statements it claimed were defamatory.
Cha had allegedly made the statements when objecting to a plan by the plaintiff to build an incinerator in Bandar Sri Sendayan.
The plaintiff had also asked for an open apology from Cha and to bar him from repeating the alleged defamatory statements. The suit was filed in July 2021.
The company had claimed that Cha made the statements on his Facebook account, in the state government-owned portal Negeri Kita and a speech at a club in Bandar Sri Sendayan.
The alleged statements were made around March and April 2021.
Cha on his Facebook account later said he was glad that the case which has been ongoing for the past three years has finally concluded.
"This has to be the most meaningful birthday gift for me," he said, adding that he was in Beijing and had been waiting for the outcome of the court case.
