By New Straits Times
The High Court has dismissed Bloomberg (Malaysia) Sdn Bhd’s application to strike out a libel suit filed by Bestinet Sdn Bhd and its founder Datuk Seri Aminul Islam Abdul Nor over reports alleging migrant worker exploitation involving the company.
In his ruling on Friday, High Court judge Roslan Mat Nor said issues concerning Bloomberg Malaysia’s pleadings on the article titled “Everyone Gets A Cut, And Migrant Workers Pay The Price” require further examination at trial and cannot be determined summarily based solely on affidavit evidence.
The judge said among the pleadings which need further examination were whether Bloomberg (Malaysia) was indeed involved in the actual publication of the disputed article, or if it has control over or operates the main Bloomberg website.
The court also made an order of RM5,000 of cost, according to Bestinet.
During submissions earlier on Friday, Datuk Amer Hamzah Arshad, the counsel for Bloomberg Malaysia, stressed that in any defamation action, the main consideration is publication of the impugned article or comments.
The lawyer from AmerBON Advocates argued that his clients were not involved in the publication of the impugned article in Malaysia or elsewhere.
The Bloomberg website, he argued, clearly states that Bloomberg LP — the parent company based in New York, US — operates the website and had published the article.
Therefore, he said, the defamation suit against his clients was not sustainable.
The plaintiffs’ lawyer, Ravi Nekoo from Lui & Bhullar, argued that Bloomberg Malaysia was not a separate legal entity from its parent company but has some responsibility in the publication of the said article.
Ravi added that Bloomberg Malaysia’s assertion that it has no control over publications and merely provided local support services for its parent company needed to be tested at the trial stage.
Besides Blooomberg LP and Bloomberg Malaysia, Bestinet and its founder are suing eight others.
They included news outlets Malaysiakini, The Edge, former Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC) chief Latheefa Koya and Pandan Member of Parliament Datuk Seri Rafizi Ramli.
The suit revolves around Bloomberg’s report in January this year of Bestinet’s operations of the Foreign Worker Centralised Management System, which is used to process foreign worker entry into Malaysia.
Bestinet and Aminul Islam claim the statements were defamatory, untrue and had severely damaged their reputation.
