PUTRAJAYA, July 16 — Former chief executive officer of a local telecommunications company, Jason Jonathan Lo today failed in his appeal to set aside the High Court’s dismissal of his suit against the Malaysian National News Agency (Bernama) over two articles published in 2019 and 2020.

A three-member bench comprising Court of Appeal judges Datuk Seri Mariana Yahaya, Datuk Mohd Nazlan Mohd Ghazali and Datuk Azman Abdullah, in a unanimous decision dismissed Lo’s appeal after ruling that the High Court’s verdict was not plainly wrong and did not warrant an appellate intervention.

Justice Mariana, when reading out the decision, said the court disagreed with the appellant’s contention that the words complaint should be read in isolation.

She said the court also found that the words complained by the appellant, read in their entirety, are not defamatory to the appellant.

"Therefore, this court dismissed the appellant’s appeal and the decision of the High Court is affirmed,” said Justice Mariana who also ordered Lo to pay costs of RM15,000 to the respondent (Bernama).

Lo filed the appeal on June 8 last year over the Kuala Lumpur High Court’s decision to dismiss his suit against Bernama on May 30 the same year.

Judicial Commissioner (JC) Datuk Raja Ahmad Mohzanuddin Shah Raja Mohzan in his decision ruled that the court found no malice in regard to the articles as claimed by Lo.

Lo filed the lawsuit in July 2021 over two articles published by Bernama, titled "Former Telco CEO charged with trespassing, injecting drug into body” and "Court charges singer Jason Lo & colleague with CBT of RM200,000”.

Earlier, lawyer Adam Luqman Amdan, representing Bernama submitted that the impugned words must be read in their entirety in order to determine whether it is defamatory or not.

"Bernama’s articles, when read in their entirety, were only designed to inform the public that the appellant was charged in court for several offences.

"The articles also clearly stated that the appellant has pleaded not guilty to the charges and contains several words such as "allegedly”, "charged” and also facts that the appellant was released on bail and that the courts have fixed other mention dates,” he said.

Meanwhile, lawyer Choo Dee Wei, who was representing Lo submitted that the impugned words shall be read in isolation and not as a whole.

"The impugned words, when read in isolation, or in its context, are defamatory,” he added. — Bernama