A three-member bench chaired by Tengku Maimun Tuan Mat said there was no appealable error by the High Court judge who found there was no prima facie contempt by Najib.
“The findings by the judge is not perverse,” she said of the unanimous decision, in dismissing the appeal by Mukhriz, who is PPBM deputy president.
Tengku Maimun said the judge was also correct in ordering Mukhriz’s lawyer to serve the court papers to the lawyer for Najib before hearing the ex-parte application to obtain leave to cite the prime minister for showing disrespect to the court.
The court ordered Mukhriz to pay Najib RM10,000 in costs.
Counsel Mohd Hafarizam Harun represented Najib while Mohamed Haniff Khatri Abdulla appeared for Mukhriz.
On July 27, Justice Ahmad Zaidi Ibrahim ruled that Mukhriz had failed to show that the statement by Najib had put pressure on the court to influence the outcome of Mukhriz’s suit against Najib’s press secretary Tengku Sariffuddin Tengku Ahmad.
“The long and short of today’s decision is that there is no word in the statement by Najib that refers to the trial and is deemed as pressure on the court,” he had said.
On July 13, Mukhriz filed for an application to obtain leave from the court to start contempt proceedings against Najib.
He claimed that Najib’s statement issued on July 7, a week before his lawsuit against Tengku Sariffuddin was scheduled to start, was intentionally done to interfere with the course of justice.
Mukhriz had, on July 11, issued an ultimatum to Najib, demanding that he apologise, but the prime minister did not do so.
Mukhriz had sued Tengku Sariffuddin in 2016 over four press statements issued by the press secretary on April 15, 20, 23 and 26.
The press statements were titled “Prime Minister’s Press Secretary’s Statement on Donation Confirmation by Saudi Arabian Foreign Minister”, “Prime Minister’s Press Secretary’s Statement on Former DPM’s Reuters Interview”, “Mukhriz Mahathir’s Statement: Response by Prime Minister’s Press Secretary” and “Prime Minister’s Press Secretary’s Statement on Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad and Datuk Seri Mukhriz Mahathir”.
The suit involving Mukhriz and Tengku Sariffuddin will continue next month, with Tengku Sariffuddin expected to take the stand.