Majority and minority judgments in Mkini's RAGM defamation case

This morning the Federal Court upheld the appellate court's guilty verdict against Malaysiakini in a defamation suit brought by the Raub Australian Gold Mining (RAGM) company.

With the ruling came an order to pay RAGM RM200,000 in costs, on top of the RM350,000 in costs and damages awarded by the Court of Appeal in 2018.

The decision was a split 3-2 majority by the five-member panel which was chaired by Federal Court judge Vernon Ong Lam Kiat.

The majority judgment in favour of dismissing Malaysiakini’s appeal was read by fellow bench member Abdul Rahman Sebli. Other members of the bench on the majority side were Zaleha Yusof and Hasnah Mohammed Hashim.

The minority decision in favour of allowing Malaysiakini's appeal was read out by bench member Harmindar Singh Dhaliwal. Ong was part of the minority judgment.

Here are the press summaries of the majority and minority judgments.

Related report: Federal Court orders Mkini to pay RM550k in mining company defamation suit

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