Court of Appeal slashes US$1mil defamation award to RM800,000

PUTRAJAYA: The Court of Appeal today slashed a High Court defamation award totalling US$1 million (RM4.1 million) to RM800,000, ruling that the damages granted to the four successful plaintiffs were excessive and went beyond the compensatory purpose of defamation law.

A three-member bench, chaired by Justice Zaini Mazlan, upheld the High Court’s finding that businessman Marwan Ahmed Hael Saeed had defamed his four uncles, but allowed his appeal on the quantum of damages.

The court reduced the award from US$250,000 to RM200,000 for each respondent – brothers Abdul Gabbar Hayel Saeed, Abdulwasa, Abdullah Abdo and Mohamed Abdo.

In delivering the unanimous decision, Zaini said damages in defamation cases are intended to compensate an injured party for harm suffered, not punish the wrongdoer.

“Damages in defamation (cases) are compensatory in nature and are not intended to punish,” he said, sitting with Justices Hayatul Akmal Abdul Aziz and Radzi Harun.

The bench held that RM200,000 for each respondent was sufficient to vindicate their reputation and compensate them for the injury caused by the defamatory statements.

The court also set aside the High Court’s order requiring Marwan to publish an apology, although it maintained the order directing him to retract the defamatory allegations.

Marwan’s counterclaim, which alleged misrepresentation, breach of fiduciary duties, conspiracy and falsification of financial information, was dismissed.

The appellate court further reduced the High Court’s costs award from RM350,000 to RM100,000, but made no order as to costs for the appeal.

Counsel Louise Jacqueline Azmi, Latifa Haiqa Yusoff and Nurul Syafinas Ibrahim appeared for Marwan, while K Shanti Mohan and Teo Tze Jie represented the respondents.

The dispute arose from a long-running family conflict within the prominent Yemeni Hayel Saeed Anam family, which controls the global business group bearing its name.

Following the death of Marwan’s father in 2012, the beneficiaries authorised a committee comprising several family members to oversee the distribution of the estate. A report detailing each beneficiary’s entitlement was prepared and executed in 2013.

Marwan subsequently exited the family business and sold his shares in the group for US$40 million under a share transfer agreement executed in Jordan in December 2014.

Several years later, in 2019, he began questioning the manner in which the estate had been distributed and sought further information regarding his inheritance.

After obtaining details of the division, Marwan accused members of the committee of manipulating the inheritance process, depriving him of his rightful share, committing fraud and breaching their duties. Similar allegations were later repeated in emails and online publications.

The respondents maintained that the allegations were false and defamatory, contending that the statements portrayed them as dishonest, fraudulent and criminal. When Marwan refused to retract the statements or apologise, they commenced defamation proceedings.