A three-member Court of Appeal bench chaired by Justice Azimah Omar said the High Court did not err in upholding a sessions court ruling that VT Menaka had lowered the reputation of her sons, M Natarajen and M Satishkumar, through a video posted on Facebook.

“There is no appealable error that warrants appellate intervention. Unfortunately, the sons had to take their mother to court,” she said, adding that the plaintiffs had proved all the elements of libel.

Azimah said the 30-minute video in Tamil with a derogatory caption had tarnished the reputation of Menaka’s sons.

“The appellant’s defence of justification and fair comment is also not applicable,” said the judge, who heard the appeal with Justices Wong Kian Kheong and Ismail Brahim.

The bench also ordered Menaka, 67, to pay RM20,000 in costs to her sons.

However, lawyer M Manoharan, representing Natarajen,42, and Satishkumar, 41 said Menaka was classified as bankrupt after she had failed to pay the judgment sum and costs of RM10,750 as ordered by the Seremban sessions court in 2023.

The mother was ordered to pay RM100,000 in damages each to the sons.

“She filed this appeal after obtaining consent from the insolvency department,” he said.

In the posting made on Sept 19, 2020, Menaka claimed that her sons were “big time” criminals, had forged her signature to remove her as a director of their family company, Linsun Group of Companies Malaysia, and wanted to kill her with a pistol.

Lawyer Asmawi Ismail appeared for Menaka.