The Edge: Reporting of 1MDB issue based on doubtful source, says Senior Federal Counsel

Senior Federal Counsel (SFC) Alice Loke, who represented the home ministry also said the reporting of the two publications concerned was provocative, raising controversy and having a tendency to influence the readers.

"In view of its provocative reporting on 1MDB and the likelihood of harm from such reporting, the minister explained that it was imperative to inquire into the source of the information the applicant received.

"He had to be certain that in publishing articles on 1MDB, the applicant had relied on verified sources. As 1MDB had attracted much critism and negative comments, the order for suspension was made in the public interest to prevent aggravating an uneasy public, especially where these sentiments were provoked by news based on information from a doubtful source. This situation was likely to prejudice public order," she said in her submission before Judge Datuk Asmabi Mohamad.

On Aug 5, The Edge Communications Sdn Bhd secured leave to apply for a judicial review over the suspension of two of its publications, The Edge Weekly and The Edge Financial Daily by the home ministry.

Loke also said that The Edge Communications Sdn Bhd reporting on 1MDB was such that there was only one conclusion to be made as to whether there was mismanagement.

"The minister was therefore, justified in his decision to suspend. The public deserves to know the outcome of the investigations which have started, instead of prematurely arriving at a conclusion from reading provocative publications on the issue," she added.

Furthermore, she said the applicant had failed to respond to the notice which queried the source of the applicant's source of information for its article on 1MDB.

Meanwhile, lawyer Darryl Goon, representing The Edge Communications Sdn Bhd, submitted that the minister's decision to suspend the publications for a period of three months was illegal, ultra vires and unconstitutional.

He said the decision was also irrational because no reasonable minister could have come to a conclusion that articles on corporate governance, namely the possible financial mismanagement of a company (1MDB), could be prejudicial to public order, security or likely to alarm public opinion, and to be prejudicial to public interest.

"The decision to suspend was made by the minister on the basis that The Edge's publications contained undesirable publications contrary to section 7(1) of the Printing Presses and Publications Act 1984 (PPPA).

"Under section 7(1), an undesirable publication can only be prohibited by order of the minister published in a gazette. This was not done in this case.

The decision to suspend is therefore, illegal because there was no breach and could not have been any breach of section 7(1) as alleged in the letter of suspension," added Goon.

He also submitted that the publications on 1MDB by the applicant were in fact, in the interest of the public, rather than to the contrary.

The company had filed an application for leave for a judicial review on July 27, by naming the home ministry's secretary-general and home minister as the respondents.

The Edge Communications Sdn Bhd had applied for leave to institute proceedings under Order 53 Rule 3 of the Rules of Court 2012 for an order of certiorari for the court to quash the decision of the home minister.

The company also sought an interim order for a stay of execution of the decision, pending the outcome of the hearing of the application and costs.

The home minister, in a letter dated July 23 signed by one Hashimah Nik Jaafar on behalf of the minister, notified the company of the suspension of the publishing permits of both publications.

According to a letter sent to the senior managing editor of the company, Ahmad Azam Mohd Aris, the ministry said the articles on 1Malaysia Development Berhad (1MDB) by The Edge were detrimental to public order, security and national interest.

It also said that the failure to comply with the suspension order would result in the revocation of the publishing permits of the publications.