Court rules Nazri not in contempt for 'liar' remark

The Shah Alam High Court has affirmed the coroner’s decision not to cite Minister in the Prime Minister's Department Mohd Nazri Abdul Aziz for contempt during the Teoh Beng Hock inquest.

In his decision, High Court judge Akhtar Tahir ruled there were insufficient particulars in Malaysiakini reporter Hazlan Zakaria's affidavit in support of the application for the court to determine the context the words were uttered.

"As such, this created problems for the court to decide," he said. "Given this, the court rules to dismiss the appeal.”

The Teoh family was represented by Karpal Singh and Gobind Singh Deo, while senior federal counsel Kamaludin Md Said and Andi Razali Jaya represented Nazri and the other respondents.

Teoh's family had sought to cite Nazri (left in photo) for contempt for calling Thai pathologist Dr Pornthip Rojanasunand (right in photo) "a liar" in relation to her claim that she had been threatened by the Malaysian authorities not to testify at the inquest.

Outside the court, Karpal said he and Teoh's family will seriously consider appealing the dismissal of the appeal.

"A minister's utterance of such words of contempt is a serious offence before the court and hence, action should have been taken by a court of law," he said.

Also present during the proceedings were Teoh's parents and siblings Meng Kee and Lee Lan.

'Surprising finding'

Karpal also expressed amazement that Justice Akhtar did not find evidence that Malaysiakini is an electronic media.

"The court took judicial notice that it cannot find proof that Malaysiakini is an electronic media, and we are perplexed with this finding," he said.

"Malaysiakini is a recognised electronic media and for the court to state this as a finding is certainly surprising."

Karpal (right) also hopes to clear this issue with the court.

Justice Akhtar in his judgment today acknowledged that the Malaysiakini reporter's affidavit was based on a telephone conversation with Nazri.

However, he said there is total lack of evidence to prove Malaysiakini is an electronic media, resulting in the court viewing the appeal as problematic and frivolous.

"Following this, the court dismisses the application," he said.

On May 21, last year coroner Azmil Muntapha Abas had escaped contempt proceedings when he ruled that the remark made by Nazri was “his own opinion”.

The coroner, however, said it was not acceptable for Nazri to accuse Pornthip, an expert witness, of lying.