PUTRAJAYA – Mkini Dotcom Sdn Bhd, which runs Malaysiakini, has paid the RM500,000 fine imposed by the Federal Court, which found the news portal guilty of contempt of court over the publication of readers’ comments.
Mkini Dotcom’s lawyer, A. Surendra Ananth, told Bernama that the fine was paid at the court counter today.
He said chief executive Premesh Chandran went to the Palace of Justice to settle the fine.
On Friday, the apex court gave Mkini Dotcom three days from Monday to pay up.
The company was fined RM500,000 by a panel led by Court of Appeal president Tan Sri Rohana Yusuf for contempt of court, for facilitating the publication of five readers’ comments.
However, it found Malaysiakini editor-in-chief Steven Gan not guilty of contempt of court.
In a 6-1 decision, Rohana said Mkini Dotcom has full control over what is published on the site, including contemptuous comments left by readers.
Federal Court judge Datuk Nallini Pathmanathan, who dissented, said Mkini Dotcom and Gan were not liable for contempt because the applicant, namely the attorney-general, failed to establish beyond reasonable doubt that they had the requisite knowledge of the existence of the third-party comments, and deliberately intended to publish the said comments.
It was reported that the portal raised more than RM500,000 through public donations in a matter of hours following the ruling. – Bernama, February 23, 2021
