A three-member bench chaired by Chief Judge of Sabah and Sarawak Rahman Sebli said the two legal questions posed by the applicant to obtain leave to appeal had no merit.

“The question posed failed to cross the threshold under Section 96 of the Courts of Judicature Act 1964,” he said.

To secure leave, an applicant must satisfy the apex court that the proposed appeal contains novel legal or constitutional questions of public importance which are being raised for the first time.

Rahman, who sat with Justices Nordin Hassan and Abdul Karim Abdul Jalil, also awarded Kok RM30,000 in costs.

Lawyer SN Nair and Jaden Phoon represented Kok, a DAP national vice-chairman, while counsel Rejinder Singh appeared for Jamal.

On March 27, a three-member Court of Appeal bench affirmed a High Court ruling that Jamal was liable for defaming Kok and ordered him to pay her RM300,000 in damages.

Kok filed the defamation suit in 2017 after Jamal accused her of misappropriating Yayasan Warisan Anak Selangor’s funds under the Selangor government’s Skim Mesra Usia Emas initiative.

In his judgment two years ago, trial judge Arief Emran Arifin said Jamal’s remarks at a press conference on March 8, 2017 were intended to attack Kok personally and in her professional capacity as an MP.

In her lawsuit, Kok contended that Jamal’s remarks gave the impression that she had misused state funds and that she was unethical.

Nair told reporters today that Jamal had complied with a Court of Appeal order by paying the judgment sum on April 14.