KUALA LUMPUR: The High Court has ordered former prime minister Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin to pay RM1.35mil in damages for defaming DAP chairman Lim Guan Eng over the former's statement on Al-Bukhary Foundation's tax exemption.
High Court Judicial Commissioner Roz Mawar Rozain made the ruling after finding that Lim had proven his case against the Bersatu president.
In her decision, JC Roz Mawar said Muhyiddin had resources at his disposal to verify and confirm whether his understanding was correct on facts.
"Yet he did not do so and continued to make further defamatory statements against the plaintiff (Lim) after the latter had brought to his attention the falsity of such allegations in the defamatory statements," she said on Friday (Nov 8).
Lim had sued Muhyiddin over the latter's statement on the cancellation of Yayasan Albukhary's tax exemption.
JC Roz Mawar also said the court could not accept Muhyiddin's defence that the language used in the impugned statements was not inflammatory.
“The context of the defamatory statements, in their natural and ordinary meaning, incited racial sentiments,” she said.
The court found Muhyiddin had deliberately infused his statements with religious and racial overtones by repeatedly highlighting Yayasan Al-Bukhary's role in Islamic charitable work.
“The court also found that qualified privilege did not apply, as these statements were not made within the appropriate context and were instead part of a public campaign.
“The timing of these statements, made immediately after his Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC) questioning, suggested an improper motive to divert attention from his own legal issues,” JC Roz Mawar said.
The court ordered Muhyiddin to pay RM1.05mil in general damages; RM150,000 in aggravated damages; and RM150,000 in exemplary damages.
The Pagoh MP is also ordered to pay Lim RM50,000 in costs.
Muhyiddin's lawyer Chethan Jethwani told the press that they would be appealing the decision.
Lim was represented by lawyer Guok Ngek Seong.
On March 27, last year, Lim filed the suit and named Muhyiddin as the sole defendant.
In his statement of claim, Lim said Muhyiddin had defamed him in Facebook posts after being released on bail by the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission on March 9, 2023.
Lim, who was finance minister from 2018 to 2020 during the Pakatan Harapan administration, claimed that Muhyiddin's statement also implied that he had cancelled the approved tax exemption status given to Yayasan Al-Bukhary.
Lim, who is also Bagan MP, claimed the Perikatan Nasional chairman's statements were made in order to divert attention away as he was in the media spotlight at that time.
