THE Terengganu sultanah hopes to skip a full trial by applying for a court order to determine whether a passage in Clare Rewcastle-Brown’s book, The Sarawak Report: The Inside Story of the 1MDB Exposé, is defamatory.

If successful, the Kuala Lumpur High Court could bypass the trial by issuing a summary judgment deeming Rewcastle-Brown and two others as having no defence to Sultanah Nur Zahirah’s claim.

The sultanah’s lawyer, Mohd Haaziq Pillay Abdullah, said his client filed the application on May 13 under Order 14A of the Rules of Court 2012.

The defence, representing Sarawak Report editor Rewcastle-Brown, publisher Gerakbudaya Enterprise and printer Vinlin Press Sdn Bhd, filed its reply on Friday.

The sultanah is seeking RM300 million in damages from the three defendants, or RM100 million each.

Justice Ahmad Zaidi Ibrahim today set June 17 for case management, after which he told lawyers that he will decide on a later date for the sultanah’s application.

“We are to file our affidavit-in-reply on June 12,” Haaziq told reporters outside the court.

“The matter could be summarily disposed of if the judge makes a ruling as to whether the statement by the defendant is indeed defamatory.”

Judges are granted discretion to dispose of a defamation case on points of law.

“If that happens, her royal highness won’t be required to give evidence. And, the onus falls on the defendants,” said Haaziq.

The sultanah is suing Rewcastle-Brown over allegedly defamatory content in her book. 

The offending statement appears on Page 3 of Rewcastle-Brown’s book, which reads: 

“In April he (Low Taek Jho) had netted himself an official advisory role at the newly set-up sovereign wealth fund designed to invest the oil revenues from the Malaysian State of Terengganu (since elections in this oil state had just been won by the opposition, BN was ruthlessly looking for ways to divert its revenues into a federally controlled entity).

“Jho was also friendly with a key player in Terengganu, the wife of the sultan, whose acquiescence was needed to set up the fund and he later cited her support as having been crucial to his obtaining the advisory position. This was the fund that would shortly be converted into the scandalous entity known as 1MDB ...”

In the second edition, the word ‘wife’ was replaced with ‘sister’. 

Rewcastle-Brown has said the error was an editing mistake and maintains there is no defamatory content.

The sultanah has denied meeting Low or backing him for any role in the state investor or Terengganu Investment Authority, as 1MDB used to be known.

She has also denied being involved in either organisation and interfering in government affairs.

Her lawyers rejected offers to settle the suit last October, saying the terms failed to meet the criterion of an unconditional apology. – May 27, 2019.