PUTRAJAYA: Blogger Papagomo failed in his Federal Court appeal to avoid paying RM800,000 in damages to Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim over defamatory online postings.
Papagomo, whose real name is Wan Muhammad Azri Wan Deris, today had his bid for leave to appeal dismissed by a three-man Federal Court bench, chaired by Chief Judge of Sabah and Sarawak Tan Sri Richard Malanjum.
Azri was appealing a 2014 Kuala Lumpur High Court ruling that ordered him to pay the damages to former opposition leader Anwar, over defamatory postings on the blog www.papagomo.com.
In reading out the brief ruling, Malanjum said there was no merit in Azri's bid for leave to appeal, and ordered him(Azri) to pay RM10,000 cost to Anwar.
Counsel Amran Aminuddin acted for Azri while Anwar was represented by lawyer Latheefa Koya.
The other members of the Federal Court bench are Tan Sri Hasan Lah and Tan Sri Zaharah Ibrahim.
In Feb 2014, the High Court ordered Azri to pay the RM800,000 damages when it found him liable of defaming Anwar, who was then Pakatan Rakyat leader and Permatang Pauh MP.
The High Court had also ordered Azri to pay RM50,000 cost to Anwar, who is currently serving a five-year jail sentence over a 2008 sodomy incident.
The Court of Appeal upheld the verdict in December last year, and had ordered Azri to pay another RM10,000 cost to Anwar.
Azri - who was the editor of news portal www.rakyatnews.my, formerly known as KL Pos Media & Production Sdn Bhd - had publicly denied being the blogger Papagomo.