KUALA LUMPUR (June 26): The High Court has dismissed Bloomberg (Malaysia) Sdn Bhd’s application to strike out the libel suit by Bestinet Sdn Bhd and its founder Datuk Sri Aminul Islam Abdul Nor over reports on alleged migrant worker exploitation involving the company.

In delivering his decision on Friday, High Court judge Roslan Mat Nor said that there were matters concerning Bloomberg (Malaysia)’s pleadings over the impugned article “Everyone Gets A Cut, And Migrant Workers Pay The Price”, which need further evaluation at the trial stage, and thus the matter cannot be decided summarily based on affidavits.

The judge said that 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.

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 the law firm Nekoo, 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, including 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 (FWCMS), 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.

News Source: The Edge Malaysia
Bloomberg (Malaysia) fails to strike out libel suit by Bestinet, founder Aminul Islam