Court throws out Farhash's bid to gag , with cost

The Shah Alam High Court today dismissed an application by former PKR leader turned businessman Farhash Wafa Salvador to restrain MalaysiaNow from publishing articles relating to the portal's damning report in July on the Sabah government's decision to approve a mining exploration licence to a company linked to him involving a massive forest reserve near the Kalimantan border.

In a minor court victory for the news portal which is facing a RM10 million suit by the prime minister's former political secretary, judge Noor Hayati Mat also ordered Farhash to pay RM5,000 in costs.

"At this preliminary stage, it is not for the court to decide whether the statements were defamatory or otherwise. However, the defence put forth is not obviously untrue, and therefore there is no necessity for an interim injunction," said the decision.

Farhash and Aminuddin Mustapha, who jointly control Bumi Suria Sdn Bhd, have filed a defamation suit against MalaysiaNow and its editor Abdar Rahman Koya over the portal's reports.

The reports are in connection with Bumi Suria's application for a mining exploration licence, which was approved by Sabah Minerals Management (SMM) during a board meeting chaired by Chief Minister Hajiji Noor on May 21 last year.

Checks with the Company Commission revealed that the decision came just two weeks after Farhash and Amin took control of Bumi Suria.

SMM, the state mineral licensing agency chaired by Hajiji himself, is currently at the centre of an explosive corruption scandal involving senior government politicians after businessman Albert Tei released a series of video recordings showing Sabah state assemblymen discussing bribes ranging from hundreds of thousands to millions of ringgit.

MalaysiaNow was represented by lawyers Rajesh Nagarajan, Sachpreetraj Singh Sohanpal and Amanda Sonia Mathew, while the plaintiffs were represented by Rajan Navaratnam, Sheena Stephanie Sebastian, R Aswath and Ezryl Azlyzan Ahmad Damanhuri.