Malaysia asked to foot bill in Params case
In a letter submitted to the Malaysian government, UN Secretary General Kofi Annan said that the organisation would seek reimbursement from the government for damages and costs that it would pay on behalf of Param if he lost all the four suits.
The UN had also submitted a claim to the Malaysian government, asking for reimbursement of RM420,000 in legal costs and expenses which it had paid on behalf of Param.
Kofi was quoted as saying that the expenses would accumulate as the four suits proceeded, and that the government's intervention by issuing a certificate to give effect to Param's immunity, would avoid further financial burden on the UN and the government.
The United Nations had argued that, under its 1946 conventions, the rapporteur was immune from prosecution by virtue of the Convention on the Privileges and Immunities of the United Nations.
Param, who is one of the country's leading lawyers, is being sued by four Malaysian companies for damages totalling RM425.6 million, for defamatory language spoken by him in an interview to the International Commerce Litigation magazine.
The magazine, published by Euromoney Plc. in London, carried the article entitled "Malaysian Justice on Trial" in its Nov 1995 issue.
In an attempt to investigate allegations of corruption in the Malaysian judiciary soon after his appointment as the UN special rapporteur, Param had commented in the interview that "complaints are rife that certain highly placed personalities in the business and corporate sectors are able to manipulate the Malaysian system of justice."
In the interview, Param stressed, however, that he had reached no definitive conclusions since his investigation was incomplete. He also clarified that he was speaking in the official capacity as UN special rapporteur.
The four companies involved asserted that the said article contained defamatory words that had "brought them into public scandal, odium and contempt" and have filed for damages.
The International Court of Justice, more commonly known as the World Court, had on April 29 this year, upheld Param's immunity from the defamation suits, based upon its findings that the article appeared in the course of his performance as a UN special rapporteur.
The Malaysian courts however ruled that Param was not covered by the World Court's ruling and the four suits are currently pending in the High Court.
Param was a former president of the Malaysian Bar Council and chief executive partner of law firm Shook Lin & Bok until he resigned in Oct 1997 to protect the firm from the impact of the litigation suits against him.
He also played a distinguished role internationally as former president of the regional professional association LawAsia, as a member of the International Commission of Jurists, and as a board member of leading non-governmental organisations including the Centre for the Independence of Judges and Lawyers.
He was appointed UN special rapporteur on the Independence of Judges and Lawyers in 1994 by the Commission on Human Rights, an organ of UN Economic and Social Council.
