Justice Radzi Harun today ruled that the conviction was invalid as the accused must be presented in court when facing criminal charges. He added that the case must be retried.
He said the court had erred in applying Section 425A of the Criminal Procedure Code, which allows a criminal trial to proceed in the absence of the accused, Buletin TV3 reported.
Radzi took into account the failure to serve the arrest warrant on Rewcastle Brown, who is in the United Kingdom, and noted that Malaysia has no formal extradition treaty with the United Kingdom.
Rewcastle Brown was sentenced to two years in jail by the Kuala Terengganu magistrates’ court on Feb 7, 2024 for defaming Sultanah Nur Zahirah in her book on 1MDB, “The Sarawak Report: The Inside Story of the 1MDB Expose”.
She was charged for defamation under Section 500 of the Penal Code, which is punishable by up to two years in prison, a fine, or both upon conviction.
In 2018, Sultanah Nur Zahirah filed a RM300 million civil suit against Rewcastle Brown for defamation after claiming that a statement in the book suggested that she was involved in corrupt practices, had interfered in Terengganu’s administration and had used her status to influence the establishment of the Terengganu Investment Authority, or TIA, as 1MDB was previously known.
Sultanah Nur Zahirah further claimed that the statement could be construed to mean that she had helped Low Taek Jho, better known as Jho Low, secure his position as adviser to TIA.
In her defence, Rewcastle Brown claimed that she had made an honest mistake in identifying the key player in the impugned statement as the wife of the sultan. She claimed that she should have referred to the sultan’s sister instead.
Last September, the Federal Court maintained a Court of Appeal ruling that Rewcastle Brown and two others were liable to Sultanah Nur Zahirah for defamation and awarded the sultanah RM15,000 in costs.
On Dec 12, 2023, a three-member Court of Appeal bench ordered Rewcastle Brown, publisher Chong Ton Sin and printer Vinlin Press Sdn Bhd to pay Sultanah Nur Zahirah RM300,000 in damages jointly and severally, as well as RM120,000 in costs.