PUTRAJAYA: Former Attorney-General (AG) Tan Sri Mohamad Apandi Ali failed in his last bid to reinstate his RM10 million defamation suit against DAP Advisor Tan Sri Lim Kit Siang today.
This is after a three-member Federal Court bench led by Chief Justice Tun Tengku Maimun Tuan Mat unanimously dismissed Apandi's leave application to appeal the lower court's decision.
Apandi filed the lawsuit over an article that questioned the former AG's role in aiding and abetting in the 1Malaysia Development Bhd (1MDB) financial scandal.
The top judge in her ruling said the Court of Appeal did not err in dismissing Apandi's suit in November last year.
"There is nothing novel raised by the appellant which warrants this court to review the case.
"The lower court has decided based on evidence and law principles," she said.
Other members of the bench were Datuk Nallini Pathmanathan and Datuk Abu Bakar Jais.
The top court also awarded RM30,000 in cost.
Apandi was represented by lawyers Rueben Mathiavaranam and Liew Teck Huat while Sangeet Kaur Deo appeared for Lim.
On May 23, 2022, High Court judge Datuk Azimah Omar (now Court of Appeal judge), in her decision said Lim had succeeded in justifying that he had qualified privilege when making those statements, as Datuk Seri Najib Razak was found guilty in 2020 in the RM42 million SRC International Sdn Bhd (1MDB's former subsidiary) criminal trial.
On Nov 2, last year, the Court of Appeal affirmed the High Court's decision in dismissing Apandi's lawsuit.
Apandi's suit centres on an article by Lim published in news portal Malaysiakini, titled "Dangerous fallacy to think Malaysia's on the road to integrity" on May 6, three years ago.
The suit claimed the defendant had deliberately or indirectly implied that Apandi was involved in criminal activities, is someone who is unethical, immoral, incompetent, and lacked responsibility, knowledge, expertise and other professional ethics to hold the post of AG at the material time.
Apandi, who is now a solicitor, claimed that Lim in his article published by news portal Malaysiakini implied that the plaintiff had a major role in aiding and abetting the 1MDB fiasco.
He said the article had tainted his reputation by claiming that he was directly involved, assisted and abetted in the 1MDB scandal.
