A five-man bench of the Federal Court today dismissed the appeal by Raub Australian Gold Mining Sdn Bhd (RAGM) in its lawsuit against a Bukit Koman resident in Pahang for defamation in respect of two articles.

Federal Court judge Tan Sri Ramly Ali, who presided the bench, said the appellate court had applied correctly the test in determining the impugned words and in concluding that the words in the first article did not expose RAGM to hatred, contempt or ridicule...

He also said the court agreed with the High Court and Court of Appeal that the words complained of by RAGM in the second article were not the actual words uttered or published by Hue Shieh Lee but the words were in fact a report or statements by a reporter.

Justice Ramly said RAGM had failed to call the reporter as a witness during the trial, to prove that she had interviewed Hue and Hue had actually uttered those words...

He said RAGM’s claim for malicious falsehood based on the two articles must also fall as RAGM failed to show that it suffered any special damage as a result of publication of the articles.