THE Federal Court in Putrajaya postponed the appeal hearing of the now-defunct Utusan Melayu (M) Berhad and one of its journalists in a defamation lawsuit filed against them by veteran lawyer Manjeet Singh Dhillon.

Lawyer Muhammad Shafee Abdullah sought an adjournment of the appeal hearing, before a five-member bench led by Chief Justice Tengku Maimun Tuan Mat, because Utusan Melayu was in liquidiation.

Shafee told the court that he was not asked to represent Utusan Melayu but had been asked to appear for the company today to seek a short adjournment of the appeal.

Lawyer Americk Singh Sidhu, representing Manjeet Singh, objected to the postponement saying that Shafee had the authority to act on Utusan Melayu’s behalf.

Justice Tengku Maimun allowed the postponement and fixed November 12 for case management.

Presiding with her were Federal Court judges Idrus Harun, Nallini Pathmanathan, Vernon Ong and Abdul Rahman Sebli.

On September 26, 2011, Manjeet Singh filed an RM2.5 million defamation lawsuit against former Padang Serai MP N. Gobalakrishnan, journalist Raja Syahrir Abu Bakar, Utusan Melayu and Sistem Televisyen Malaysia Bhd (TV3) in relation to Gobalakrishan’s interview with the media on August 16, 2011.

In his statement of claim, he said that Gobalakrisnan had made derogatory remarks against him.

On September 11, 2015, Manjeet Singh won his suit against Gobalakrishnan, Raja Syahrir and Utusan Melayu at the Kuala Lumpur High Court but his suit against TV3 was dismissed.

Then high court judge Justice Nor Bee Arifin, who now sits in the Court of Appeal, ordered Utusan Melayu and Raja Syahrir to pay RM200,000 in damages and Gobalakrishnan to pay RM150,000 in damages for defaming Manjeet.

On March 13, 2018, the Court of Appeal reversed the High Court’s decision and ordered TV3 to pay RM200,000 in damages to Manjeet Singh. TV3 did not appeal against this decision.

However, the appellate court dismissed the appeals by Gobalakrishnan, Utusan Melayu and Raja Syahrir, affirming the High Court order.

Gobalakrishnan has filed for leave to appeal to the Federal Court.

On July 24, 2018, Utusan Melayu and Raja Syahrir obtained leave to appeal to the Federal Court.

Americk Singh told reporters that the appeal has been postponed three times. – Bernama, October 30, 2019.