Two of three Court of Appeal judges recused themselves from hearing two appeals in the suit brought by National Feedlot Corporation Sdn Bhd (NFC) and its chairperson Mohd Salleh Ismail against Pandan MP Rafizi Ramli and Mkini Sdn Bhd.

In October last year, the High Court in Kuala Lumpur ruled that Rafizi defamed NFC and Salleh, who he was ordered to pay RM50,000 and RM150,000 to respectively, as well as an additional RM100,000 as costs.

However, the case against Malaysiakini was dismissed, with the judge ruling that the news portal was covered by the defence of reportage.

NFC and Salleh are appealing the High Court's decision against Malaysiakini, while Rafizi is appealing the order to pay damages to Salleh and NFC.

Justice Abang Iskandar Abang Hashim, who led the Court of Appeal panel, recused himself from hearing both appeals, along with third judge Justice Mary Lim. 

"In the interest of justice, both of us decided to recuse ourselves from hearing the appeal," Justice Abang Iskandar said.

Their recusal came about after Justice Abang Iskandar highlighted to parties, including senior lawyer Muhammad Shafee Abdullah (photo) for NFC and Salleh, that he and Justice Lim had dismissed NFC and Salleh’s appeal in a defamation suit against Lembah Pantai MP Nurul Izzah Anwar.
Salleh and NFC had sued Rafizi and Malaysiakini, over the PKR MP's statement on March 7, 2012, alleging that public funds, meant for a National Feedlot Centre project in Gemas, were used as leverage to purchase eight properties at KL Eco World.

Both judges recognised that although Rafizi’s case differed slightly from Nurul Izzah’s, it involved matters from the same press conference.

Either Justice Abang Iskandar or Justice Lim will write the grounds of the decision in the NFC case against Nurul Izzah, which they are appealing in the Federal Court next month.

After case management was held among lawyers from all sides, the Court of Appeal fixed March 23 next year to hear both NFC's and Rafizi's appeals.

Lawyers do not object to the judges

Shafee admitted before the bench that the presence of Justice Abang Iskandar and Justice Lim, who also sat in the Nurul Izzah case, had slipped his mind and that of his assistants.

The senior lawyer, however, said he had no objection to them being on the bench, but noted that in the interest of justice, they should consider recusing themselves.

Lawyers Ranjit Singh and Razlan Hadri Zulkifli, who appeared for Rafizi (photo), also had no objections to the two judges sitting on the case.

Razlan Hadri, who had appeared for Nurul Izzah in her case against NFC and Salleh, told the bench that Nurul Izzah’s case is not the same as Rafizi’s.

Earlier, before proceedings began, Shafee asked for a short adjournment, saying that his mother-in-law passed away last week and with his in-laws having converged at his house, he did not have time to read the submissions provided.

Mkini Dotcom was represented by K Shanmuga.