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Jan 30 case management for Terengganu Sultanah's lawsuit against SR editor

KUALA LUMPUR: The High Court has fixed Jan 30 for case management of the Sultanah of Terengganu Sultanah Nur Zahirah’s suit against Sarawak Report editor Clare Rewcastle-Brown over defamatory statements.

The statements were published in Page 3 of ‘The Sarawak Report (SR) - The Inside Story of 1MDB Expose’.

Counsel Vishnu Kumar who represented Sultanah Nur Zahirah said this after the matter came up for case management in the chambers of judge Datuk Ahmad Zaidi Ibrahim today.

According to the statement of claim, Sultanah Nur Zahirah named Brown (her real name Clare Louise Brown), Gerakbudaya Enterprise publisher Chong Ton Sin and printing company Vinlin Press Sdn Bhd as the first to third defendants.

In the statement filed on Nov 21, Sultanah Nur Zahirah claimed that around August 2018, Brown and the second defendant made a statement in a book titled the Sarawak Report - The Inside Story of 1MDB expose and it was printed by Vinlin.

Sultanah Nur Zahirah claimed it was a known fact that the 1Malaysia Development Bhd (1MDB) was previously known as Terengganu Investment Authority (TIA) and that she was never involved with the establishment of TIA and the sovereign wealth fund.

She claimed that she had never given her acquiescence to fugitive financier Low Taek Jho or Jho Low in the setting up of TIA and the sovereign wealth fund.

She also claimed that she never supported Low in obtaining the advisory role in TIA.

In fact, she does not know Low and her knowledge of Low was only based on media reports.

Sultanah Nur Zahirah contended that the defamatory statement had in its natural and ordinary meaning meant that she had interfered with the administration of the state of Terengganu.

She also contended that Brown’s statement had caused her distress and injury to her reputation, and sought RM100 million in damages to be paid by each defendant.

Among others, the plaintiff is also seeking for the second and third defendants to withdraw the book containing the defamatory statement from sale and circulation and for the defendants to not repeat, republish, print or reprint the statements mentioned in any manner.

The plaintiff is also seeking for the third defendant to cease printing any more copies of the book.

In her defence, Brown denied that the statement referred to by the plaintiff in the statement of claim were defamatory in nature.

She also denied that the statement was understood to bear or capable of conveying defamatory meanings.

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