PUTRAJAYA – The Federal Court has held that the RM500,000 fine imposed on Mkini Dotcom Sdn Bhd, which operates news portal Malaysiakini, for contempt over readers’ comments is the appropriate sentence serving the public interest.
In the full grounds of the court’s majority decision, Court of Appeal president Tan Sri Rohana Yusuf, who chaired a seven-member panel, said the sentence will deter others from committing the same crime.
“It may deter others from the temptation to commit such a crime where the punishment is negligible, or it may deter that particular criminal from repeating the same crime.
“Not only regarding each crime, but with regard to each criminal, the court always has the right and duty to decide whether to be lenient or severe,” she said in a 76-page grounds of judgment uploaded today to the judiciary’s website.
She said the gravity of the contempt in the Mkini case, involving baseless allegations of corruption, is much more severe than in other contempt cases referred to in the grounds of judgment, including the case of lawyer V.K. Lingam, who was sentenced to six months’ jail for contempt.
She said the language used and allegations made are beyond any bound of decency, targeting the judiciary as a whole and making the wild suggestion that the chief justice was corrupt.
The readers’ comments, which were facilitated for publication by Mkini, besmirched the good name of the judiciary, and subverted the course of the administration of justice, undermined public confidence, and offended the dignity, integrity and impartiality of the judiciary, said the judgment.
“Having weighed the mitigating factors as submitted by the respondents (Mkini and Malaysiakini editor-in-chief Steven Gan) against the seriousness of the offence committed, it was only right that the sentence not be too lenient,” said Rohana.
“Public interest demands a deterrent sentence be meted out against the first respondent (Mkini). We therefore hold that a fine of RM500,000 is appropriate.”
On February 19, the Federal Court ordered Mkini to pay a RM500,000 fine after finding the company guilty of contempt of court for facilitating the publication of five readers’ comments.
The court, however, did not find Gan guilty of contempt.
Mkini was given three days from February 22 to settle the fine. It paid the amount on February 23.
Mkini was found guilty in a 6-1 decision by Rohana; Chief Judge of Malaya Tan Sri Azahar Mohamed; Chief Judge of Sabah and Sarawak Datuk Abang Iskandar Abang Hashim; and, Federal Court judges Datuk Seri Mohd Zawawi Salleh, Datuk Vernon Ong Lam Kiat and Datuk Abdul Rahman Sebli.
Federal Court judge Datuk Nallini Pathmanathan, who dissented, found Mkini and Gan not liable for contempt.
The 67-page minority judgment is also available on the judiciary’s website.
On June 17 last year, the Federal Court allowed the attorney-general’s ex-parte application for leave to commence committal proceedings against Mkini and Gan in relation to readers’ comments on an article published on June 9, titled, “CJ orders all courts to be fully operational from July 1”, which were deemed offensive.
On July 2, Mkini and Gan failed to set aside the leave obtained by the attorney-general to commence committal proceedings against them. – Bernama, March 3, 2021
