NFCorp, Chairman gets leave to proceed with appeal in defamation suit

PUTRAJAYA: National Feedlot Corporation Sdn Bhd (NFCorp) and its executive chairman Datuk Seri Mohamad Salleh Ismail can proceed with their appeal to the Federal Court relating to a defamation lawsuit they filed against Nurul Izzah Anwar and PKR.
This follows a decision by a three-man bench of the Federal Court today, which was led by Chief Judge of Malaya Tan Sri Ahmad Maarop to grant leave to appeal to NFCorp and Mohamad Salleh.
Both the High Court and Court of Appeal had respectively dismissed their lawsuit against Nurul Izzah, who is PKR vice president and Lembah Pantai Member of Parliament and PKR.
In his decision, Justice Ahmad said the court found there were legal questions of importance which required further argument and a decision by the Federal Court.
He allowed two questions of law framed by the applicants, for the Federal Court's determination.
The other two judges were Federal Court judges Tan Sri Hasan Lah and Tan Sri Azahar Mohamed.
The suit was filed on Dec 24, 2013, by NFCorp and Mohamad Salleh against Nurul Izzah and PKR secretary-general Saifuddin Nasution Ismail in relation to a statement over allegations concerning the purchase of eight units of properties at KL Eco City.
They claimed that Nurul Izzah had made a slanderous statement on Malaysiakini TV on March 7, 2012.
On March 4, 2016, the High Court in Kuala Lumpur dismissed their lawsuit after ruling that the statement when read as a whole was not defamatory to NFCorp and Mohamad Salleh.
NFCorp and Mohamad Salleh also lost their appeal at the appellate court which was dismissed on July 10, last year.
They were represented by lawyer Tan Sri Dr Muhammad Shafee Abdullah while lawyer Razlan Hadri Zulkifli represented Nurul Izzah and PKR. — Bernama