High Court Judge Hue Siew Kheng dismissed the suit, ruling that the statement made by Nurul Izzah, as defendant, was not defamatory of Salleh.

“I agree with the defendant that the statement read as a whole is not defamatory of the plaintiff (Salleh) as the press statement was by Nurul Izzah in her capacity and position as Lembah Pantai MP,” the judge said.

Hue said the statement was directed at Shahrizat Abdul Jalil, who is former MP of Lembah Pantai and also Salleh’s wife, and a reasonable man would consider the article to be a call to accountability to Shahrizat in light of Pandan MP Mohd Rafizi Ramli’s earlier statement on the matter.

The court also ordered the plaintiffs to pay a total of RM80,000 in damages to the two defendants.

On December 24, 2013, Salleh filed the suit against Nurul Izzah and the PKR secretary-general at the time, Saifuddin Nasution, alleging that Nurul Izzah had slandered them in her comments on the alleged disclosure by Rafizi, who was then the PKR’s strategy director, of misappropriation by Salleh.

Rafizi had allegedly said that the plaintiffs had purchased eight units of properties at KL Eco City using NFCorp’s funds.

The plaintiffs claimed that Nurul Izzah had made the slanderous statement on Malaysiakini TV on March 7, 2012.

Counsel Muhammad Shafee Abdullah acted for the plaintiffs, while Joshua Kevin represented the defendants.

– BERNAMA