By Tarani Palani | The Edge Malaysia
Bloomberg (Malaysia) Sdn Bhd has applied to strike out the libel suit brought against it (and other parties) by Bestinet Sdn Bhd and its founder Datuk Sri Aminul Islam Abdul Nor, over reports on alleged migrant worker exploitation involving the company.
Datuk Amer Hamzah Arshad, acting for Bloomberg Malaysia, informed the court that his clients were erroneously included as defendants in the suit. The court later set June 26 to hear the application.
Based on a file search by The Edge, Bloomberg Malaysia, in its application to strike out, contends that it is not the party that published or caused the publication of the impugned article, “Everyone Gets A Cut, And Migrant Workers Pay The Price”.
Further, Bloomberg Malaysia also claims that it is not the party which “maintains or exercises any power over” the main Bloomberg website which published the article.
They say the website is not maintained in Malaysia, but rather by their parent company, Bloomberg LP based in New York, in the US.
“[Bloomberg Malaysia] is a company incorporated in Malaysia, and the nature of its business includes providing local support services for Bloomberg products and services, such as sales and marketing, training and technical support services, as well as news bureau activities including information and data collecting and handling.
“For the avoidance of doubt, and to reiterate, [Bloomberg Malaysia] did not publish, upload, or disseminate [the article], nor does it have any control over or operate the Bloomberg website on which the impugned article was published,” states the application document.
On Thursday, the plaintiffs’ lawyer Ravi Nekoo also informed the court that they would be filing amendments to their statement of claim (SOC) by April 9.
The defendants — some of whom have already filed or have instructions to file similar striking out applications — said that they will peruse the SOC amendments before taking the next step.
However, Amer clarified that the SOC amendments will not alter Bloomberg (Malaysia)’s striking out application, and they need not wait for amendments to be filed.
Besides Blooomberg LP and Bloomberg Malaysia, Bestinet and its founder are suing eight others, including news outlets Malaysiakini, The Edge, former Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC) chief Latheefa Koya and Pandan lawmaker Datuk Seri Rafizi Ramli.
The suit revolves around Bloomberg‘s report in January this year on Bestinet’s operations of the Foreign Worker Centralised Management System (FWCMS) which is used to process foreign worker entry into Malaysia.
Bestinet and Aminul Islam claim the statements made in the report were defamatory, untrue, and had severely damaged their reputation.
Earlier in February, the High Court had dismissed the plaintiffs’ application for an ex-parte (one-sided) interim injunction barring the defendants from further publishing reports on this issue.
Judge Roslan Mat Nor in his decision had said that such an injunction would bar the publication of a matter that concerns public interest and would threaten the defendants’ freedom of speech.
He also said that the plaintiffs had failed to show that the publication of those reports had resulted in a loss in business opportunities.
Edited By Aniza Damis
