Sinar Karangkraf, employees succeed in defamation suit over article on slimming products

KOTA BHARU – Sinar Karangkraf Sdn Bhd and two of its employees succeeded in a defamation suit filed against them by a cosmetics and health beverage company over an article on slimming products three years ago.

This was after High Court judge Datuk Mohamad Abazafree Mohd Abbas dismissed Nanyqish Legacy Sdn Bhd’s claim following its failure to prove the lawsuit against the three defendants.

The court also ordered the company to pay the defendants RM20,000 in costs.

In the suit, Sinar Harian journalist Adila Sharinni Wahid, its Executive Editor (Digital) Ruzy Adila Idris and Sinar Karangkraf were named as the first to third defendants respectively.

Nanyqish Legacy filed the suit over an article entitled "Produk Kurus Dipercayai Mengandungi Racun Sibutramine Dirampas” published by the Malay daily on its website on April 14, 2021.

The article was accompanied by a picture of the plaintiff's (Nanyqish Legacy) products which were said to have been seized by the Kelantan State Health Department (JKNK).

According to the judgment sighted in the court system on Monday, the court was satisfied that the article was written based on a press statement by the JKNK director at the Covid-19 Quarantine and Treatment Centre, here.

He said the plaintiff failed to prove that the news contained statements referring to it because the company's name was not even disclosed in the article.

"The court is of the view that no documented evidence was submitted by the plaintiff to prove that the product, the crux of the claim, belongs to it.

"The picture uploaded was a handout by the Health Ministry from its Facebook, JKNK and the State Pharmacy Services Division, which clearly states that the use of slimming pills or weight loss drugs contained sibutramine," the judge said in the judgement.

He said the news was just a report from a press conference while the handout uploaded was only intended as information to the public.

Abazafree said the words in the article did not imply to readers that the plaintiff had launched a faulty product.

Besides that, he said, the news referred to a reliable source, so there was no need for the defendants to interview or get feedback from the plaintiff.

"All defendants have a legal and moral responsibility to inform the public by publishing news related to products containing poisonous substances that can cause harm.

"As a result, the plaintiff failed to prove that there was any malicious intent by the defendants towards it," said the judge.

On April 14, 2021, Sinar Harian reported that the JKNK had seized four slimming products worth RM14,000 believed to contain sibutramine poison that could cause consumers to suffer mental disorders.

JKNK said the poison was often found in illegally sold pill-shaped slimming products.