KL court urged to quash ruling

KL court urged to quash ruling

KUALA LUMPUR (AP): Targeting a legal milestone, lawyers for a prominent Malaysian reporter urged the country's highest court on Monday to overturn its own verdict in a libel lawsuit.

Freelance journalist M.G.G. Pillai alleges that Eusoff Chin, Malaysia's former No. 1 judge, was prejudiced when he and two other Federal Court judges upheld a High Court decision last July ordering Pillai to pay tycoon Vincent Tan 2 million ringgit ($526,316) for defamation.

Pillai's case is known for sparking a trend of escalating libel suits, which recently culminated in a Malaysian businessman seeking 1.2 billion ringgit ($316 million) in defamation damages.

A three-judge panel on Monday agreed to hear legal arguments on Pillai's case, but no date was immediately fixed for hearings to start.

Eusoff, who retired in November, was heavily criticized after photographs surfaced last year showing him together with Tan's lawyer, V.K. Lingam, in New Zealand in 1994.