Mkini Dotcom loses bid to get leave to appeal over replacement of judge

Online news portal publisher Mkini Dotcom Sdn Bhd and two of its editors failed in their bid to get leave to appeal against a directive by Chief Judge of Malaya for a High Court judge who has been transferred to Seremban, to hear a libel suit filed against them by Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak.

A Federal Court three-man bench chaired by Chief Judge of Sabah and Sarawak Tan Sri Richard Malanjum unanimously dismissed the leave to appeal application brought by Mkini Dotcom, its editor-in-chief, Steven Gan and chief editor Fathi Aris Omar.

He said the applicants failed to satisfy the requirement of Section 96 of the Courts of Judicature Act 1964 which states that there must be novel legal questions for the Federal Court to decide.

Mkini Dotcom, Gan and Fathi Aris sought leave to appeal against the decision of a High Court to dismiss their bid for leave to commence a judicial review to challenge the decision of Chief Judge of Malaya Tan Sri Zulkefli Ahmad Makinudin in maintaining judge Datuk Wira Kamaludin Md Said - despite his transfer to Seremban - to hear Najib's lawsuit.

Malanjum ordered Mkini Dotcom, Gan and Fathi Aris to pay RM10,000 in costs. Presiding with him were justices Tan Sri Ahmad Maarop and Tan Sri Ramly Ali.

Najib, who is suing in his personal capacity, and UMNO executive secretary Datuk Ab Rauf Yusoh, filed the libel suit against the applicants over a series of readers' posts published on their website.

The lawsuit centred on two articles published by Malaysiakini on the www.malaysiakini.com portal on May 14, 2014, which they claimed had marred their reputation and sparked allusions that UMNO was incompetent as a political body and backbone of the Barisan Nasional.

Mkini Dotcom, Gan and Fathi Aris had applied at the High Court to recuse Kamaludin from hearing the lawsuit but it was rejected.

They then commenced a judical review, seeking a certiorari order to quash the Chief Judge of Malaya's directive to appoint Kamaludin to hear the lawsuit.

However, the High Court refused to grant leave to the applicants to file the judicial review and they also lost their appeal at the Court of Appeal.

The applicants claimed there was no legal basis for Kamaludin, who was transferred to the Seremban High Court on Jan 1, last year, to hear the lawsuit.

Prior to this, the judge had served at the Kuala Lumpur Civil High Court.

Lawyer Datuk Malik Imtiaz Sarwar representing the applicants told reporters the Court of Appeal had set Oct 4 for hearing of the appeal by Mkini Dotcom, Gan and Fathi Aris over the High Court's dismissal of their application to recuse Kamaludin from hearing the lawsuit. -- Bernama