Lawyer Francis Pereira, who is representing PKR organ Suara Keadilan, said the statutory body would not object to the appeal against the quantum of damages awarded to Felda and Felda Global Ventures Holdings Sdn Bhd (FGV) last year.
“We will inform the Court of Appeal bench on Nov 12 that the respondents (Felda and FGV) are conceding to the appeal,” he said after a case management before deputy registrar Noridah Adam.
Pereira said they would likely request the court to reinstate the RM70,000 damages awarded by a High Court deputy registrar.
Lawyer Nor Emelia Mohd Iszeham, who represented the respondents, told Noridah today that Felda would not contest the appeal against the quantum.
On July 23, Nor Emelia informed the registrar that FGV would not contest the appeal but Felda needed more time as it had yet to appoint a chairman.
Four days later, Felda announced former Maybank chairman Megat Zaharuddin Megat Mohd Nor as its new chairman, replacing Shahrir Abdul Samad.
PKR president Dr Wan Azizah Wan Ismail, her former deputy Syed Husin Ali and the writer of the two articles in question, Rusnizam Mahat, had filed an appeal on the excessive damages.
On Dec 5 last year, High Court judge Su Geok Yiam allowed the appeal by Felda and FGV and awarded them RM2 million in damages, the highest amount awarded to an aggrieved party in recent years.
Deputy registrar Norfauzani Mohd Nordin had initially ordered the trio to pay RM70,000 in damages.
However, Su said the amount was “extraordinarily low” and should be increased.
“In my opinion, if the low sum is not substituted with an appropriate sum, the tort of libel will be trivialised,: she said.
She said the plaintiffs were a statutory body and a public-listed company under the Companies Act.
“It will send a wrong message that the (defendants) could do that to other statutory bodies and get away with paying lower damages.”
She added that the defendants had caused panic among shareholders and sparked queries from banks when they used the term “Felda bankrupt”.
On Aug 16, 2010, Felda and FGV filed a RM200 million defamation suit over news reports published by Suara Keadilan on June 22 and 29 that year.
The plaintiffs alleged that an article with the heading “Felda bankrap” (Felda bankrupt) and “Bina Bangunan RM662 juta hanya libatkan tiga individu” (Construction of RM662 million building involved only three individuals), accompanied by a photograph captioned “Kontroversi”, had tarnished their image.
On Sept 30, 2014, Suara Keadilan former editor Dzulkarnain Taib, who was initially named as one of the defendants, apologised to the plaintiffs.
On Oct 17, 2014, the High Court ruled in favour of Felda and FGV.