KUALA LUMPUR, 7 Dec: The Putrajaya Court of Appeal dismissed the appeal made by Utusan Melayu (M) Berhad against the Kuala Lumpur High Court’s decision regarding the issue of the WWW1 number plate bid yesterday.
Citing Harakah Daily, Utusan was previously ordered to pay damages of RM250,000, with an interest of five percent a year until the full settlement, and a cost of RM30,000 to the former Chief Minister of Perak, Datuk Seri Ir Mohammad Nizar Jamaluddin.
Judge Zaharah Ibrahim who chaired the three-judge panel ruled that the decision of the Kuala Lumpur High Court previously is true.
The court found that the argument of the respondent is true, that Utusan spun the statement made by Mohammad Nizar on his Twitter page, dated May 28, 2012.
The court also ruled that the writer of the news, dated 31 May 2012, knew the actual contents of Mohammad Nizar’s tweet but deliberately wrote different from what was stated.
The author also allegedly did not practice proper journalistic ethics by not being careful in reporting news on the issue and the Court of Appeal also ordered Utusan to pay an additional cost of RM20,000.
Mohammad Nizar was represented by two lawyers, Mohd Fitri Asmuni and Mohamad Zamri Ibrahim, through Messrs Awi & Co, while Utuan was represented by Datuk Firuz Hussien from Messrs Hafarizam Wan & Aisha Mubarak.
