Their lawyer Lai Wei Shiung informed the apex court that lead counsel Americk Sidhu was unable to log into the online proceedings today due to technical issues.

Justice Nallini Pathmanathan then said that the court would fix the application for case management to schedule a new hearing date.

Lawyer A Vishnu Kumar, appearing for the sultanah, raised no objections.

The other judges who sat with Nallini were Justices Nordin Hassan and Abdul Karim Abdul Jalil.

Rewcastle Brown, publisher Chong Ton Sin and printer Vinlin Press Sdn Bhd are seeking leave to appeal a Court of Appeal ruling ordering them to pay Sultanah Nur Zahirah damages of RM300,000 for defamation.

The appeals court ruled that the impugned statement linking Sultanah Nur Zahirah to Low Taek Jho in Rewcastle Brown’s book on 1MDB was calculated to expose her to hatred, ridicule or contempt.

The book, which tells the story behind investigations into 1MDB, was written by Rewcastle Brown and published in 2018.

The court also said the impugned statement had led to the public leaving comments on Malaysiakini ridiculing Sultanah Nur Zahirah.

Sultanah Nur Zahirah filed the defamation suit against Rewcastle Brown, Chong and Vinlin Press in 2018, claiming that the writer had made a disparaging statement in the book.

She claimed the statement could be taken to mean that she was involved in corrupt practices and had interfered in Terengganu’s administration, besides using her status to influence the establishment of Terengganu Investment Authority Bhd (TIA).

She also alleged that the statement could be construed to mean that she had helped Low become the adviser of TIA.

The suit, which was tried in the High Court, was originally dismissed by then judicial commissioner Johan Lee, who ruled that the statement was not defamatory of the sultanah. The decision was overturned by the Court of Appeal.