KUALA LUMPUR: Former Pos Malaysia non-executive chairman Tan Sri Adam Kadir told the High Court on Tuesday in a defamation suit that he believes certain words used in an article had cast a negative light on him.
In the suit against The Edge Communications Sdn Bhd, Adam alleged that in an article in The Edge Financial Daily on June 18, 2008 entitled “Adam resigns ahead of Pos Malaysia AGM”, the sentence “It is believed that the disagreement between the two parties ranged from the disposal of land to the awarding of contracts” was published in bad faith.
The Edge Communications publishes The Edge Financial Daily as well as business weekly The Edge Malaysia.
The story was published a day before the said AGM.
However, he admitted during cross-examination by The Edge Communications’ counsel Raja Eileen Soraya Raja Aman that a letter he sent to The Edge after the publication of the June 18, 2008 article did not state that the said article had contained “falsehoods”.
He also agreed with Raja Eileen that the said article did not directly state that he had misused his position as chairman by getting involved in activities which resulted in losses to Pos Malaysia.
Asked why he took about two years to take action against The Edge in re-examination by his counsel Mohamed Hanipa Maidin, Adam replied: “I waited for two years because I know I have three to four years to take action.”
In his suit filed on July 15 last year, Adam named Ho Kay Tat, former editor in chief of The Edge and The Edge Financial Daily, and The Edge Communications Sdn Bhd as defendants.
According to his statement of claim, Adam said Ho had allowed The Edge Communications to publish a defamatory statement of him together with his photograph on the front page of The Edge Financial Daily on June 18, 2008.
In the statement of defence filed on Aug 15 last year, Ho and The Edge Communications claimed qualified privilege and fair comment on a matter of public interest.
Ho who is now the group managing director/CEO of Star Publications (M) Bhd testified that the article was published as a matter of public interest because Pos Malaysia is a company listed on Bursa Malaysia and its major shareholder Khazanah Nasional Bhd is the investment holding arm of the government.
“Any issues or disputes involving any one of these two companies would be a matter of public interest,” said Ho.
Khazanah was then the biggest shareholder of Pos Malaysia. In November 2010, Adam had also filed a suit against Khazanah’s managing director Tan Sri Azman Mokhtar over his dismissal from the chairman’s post. The suit has since been dismissed.
At Tuesday’s hearing, Ho also told the court that there was no record of a complaint from Adam and that he only knew that the former Pos Malaysia chairman was aggrieved over the content of the said article when he received a letter of demand dated Oct 20, 2010.
“I was surprised when I first saw the plaintiff’s letter of demand as it was only sent almost two years after the article was published,” he said.
Ho also said that Adam had been a columnist for The Edge Malaysia and his last column had been published on June 16, 2008.
In cross examination by Adam’s counsel Mohamed Hanipa Maidin, Ho disagreed that by including the words “disposal of land to the awarding of contracts”, the readers would think that Adam was involved in it.
The hearing before Justice Datuk John Louis O’Hara continues today.
This article appeared in The Edge Financial Daily, February 2, 2012.
In the suit against The Edge Communications Sdn Bhd, Adam alleged that in an article in The Edge Financial Daily on June 18, 2008 entitled “Adam resigns ahead of Pos Malaysia AGM”, the sentence “It is believed that the disagreement between the two parties ranged from the disposal of land to the awarding of contracts” was published in bad faith.
The Edge Communications publishes The Edge Financial Daily as well as business weekly The Edge Malaysia.
The story was published a day before the said AGM.
However, he admitted during cross-examination by The Edge Communications’ counsel Raja Eileen Soraya Raja Aman that a letter he sent to The Edge after the publication of the June 18, 2008 article did not state that the said article had contained “falsehoods”.
He also agreed with Raja Eileen that the said article did not directly state that he had misused his position as chairman by getting involved in activities which resulted in losses to Pos Malaysia.
Asked why he took about two years to take action against The Edge in re-examination by his counsel Mohamed Hanipa Maidin, Adam replied: “I waited for two years because I know I have three to four years to take action.”
In his suit filed on July 15 last year, Adam named Ho Kay Tat, former editor in chief of The Edge and The Edge Financial Daily, and The Edge Communications Sdn Bhd as defendants.
According to his statement of claim, Adam said Ho had allowed The Edge Communications to publish a defamatory statement of him together with his photograph on the front page of The Edge Financial Daily on June 18, 2008.
In the statement of defence filed on Aug 15 last year, Ho and The Edge Communications claimed qualified privilege and fair comment on a matter of public interest.
Ho who is now the group managing director/CEO of Star Publications (M) Bhd testified that the article was published as a matter of public interest because Pos Malaysia is a company listed on Bursa Malaysia and its major shareholder Khazanah Nasional Bhd is the investment holding arm of the government.
“Any issues or disputes involving any one of these two companies would be a matter of public interest,” said Ho.
Khazanah was then the biggest shareholder of Pos Malaysia. In November 2010, Adam had also filed a suit against Khazanah’s managing director Tan Sri Azman Mokhtar over his dismissal from the chairman’s post. The suit has since been dismissed.
At Tuesday’s hearing, Ho also told the court that there was no record of a complaint from Adam and that he only knew that the former Pos Malaysia chairman was aggrieved over the content of the said article when he received a letter of demand dated Oct 20, 2010.
“I was surprised when I first saw the plaintiff’s letter of demand as it was only sent almost two years after the article was published,” he said.
Ho also said that Adam had been a columnist for The Edge Malaysia and his last column had been published on June 16, 2008.
In cross examination by Adam’s counsel Mohamed Hanipa Maidin, Ho disagreed that by including the words “disposal of land to the awarding of contracts”, the readers would think that Adam was involved in it.
The hearing before Justice Datuk John Louis O’Hara continues today.
This article appeared in The Edge Financial Daily, February 2, 2012.
