KUALA LUMPUR: Datuk Zaid Ibrahim and two other lawyers has failed to sue the Malaysian Bar for defamation.
The High Court dismissed the lawsuit filed by Zaid, Liew Teck Huat and Reuben Mathiavaranam over a statement made by the Bar president that criticised the lawyers’ conduct during Datuk Seri Najib Razak’s final appeal in the SRC International Sdn Bhd case.
Justice Roz Mawar Rozain ruled that the tort of defamation was not made out in the case as the lawyers failed to establish that the impugned words were defamatory in law.
She also found that the reputational impact of the plaintiffs’ conduct had already “crystallised” prior to the publication.
“In this case, the plaintiffs themselves had, prior to the publication, made multiple public disclosures – including press interviews, social media postings, and commentaries – admitting their lack of readiness, criticising prior counsel, and seeking adjournments which were ultimately refused by the Federal Court.
“This court finds that by Aug 19, 2022, the reputational position of the plaintiffs had already been shaped by facts in the public domain,” she said in her decision here yesterday.
The lawyers filed the suit in September 2022, after the Bar issued a statement by its then president, Karen Cheah, titled “Abuse of process brings disrepute to our justice system” amid Najib’s final appeal in the SRC case at the Federal Court.
Justice Roz Mawar noted that while the Bar’s statement was strongly worded, it did not materially lower the plaintiffs’ reputation any further than what was already in place.
She said the court accepted that professional reputations deserved protection, however, the legal threshold for defamation was not met in the case.
“For these reasons, the plaintiffs’ claims were dismissed in their entirety,” the judge said.
The court did not make any order as to costs, as lawyer Andrew Chiew, who represented the Bar and Cheah, did not ask for costs.
On July 25, 2022, Najib had discharged his long-time legal counsel, Messrs Shafee & Co, from representing him in his final appeal in the SRC case at the Federal Court and replaced them with ZIST.
However, on Aug 19, 2022, ZIST was discharged too and Cheah’s statement was issued afterwards.
Zaid, Liew and Reuben then sued the Bar and Cheah, claiming that the statement had tarnished their reputation.
