Daughter of former Sarawak Governor partially loses defamation suit against Swiss NGO

MALAYSIA: On 17 December 2024, the Basel civil court in Switzerland rejected the injunction application filed by Jamilah Taib Murray, the daughter of former Sarawak governor the late Tun Abdul Taib Mahmud, in her defamation lawsuit against the environmental NGO, Bruno Manser Fonds (BMF).

The court ruled that BMF had not made defamatory statements in the form alleged by the plaintiffs, which included Jamilah, her husband Sean Murray, and their Canada-based real estate company, Sakto Group.

The court rejected the plaintiffs’ application for an injunction to stop the NGO from making seven statements they alleged to be defamatory.

Swiss Court Rejects Plaintiffs’ Claims, Rules Complaints Exaggerated in Defamation Case

The plaintiffs had claimed that BMF’s public statements about their business dealings were damaging to their reputation, accusing the NGO of making false claims about them.

However, in a ruling that has garnered attention, the three judges determined that the complaints made by Jamilah and Sean Murray were exaggerated.

They ruled that the NGO had not made the defamatory statements in the form presented by the plaintiffs.

The specific statements in question, which BMF had allegedly made about the Murrays and Sakto, were as follows:

• The plaintiffs’ business model was based on or consisted of corruption.
• The plaintiffs belonged to the ‘tropical timber mafia’ and/or a criminal organisation.
• The plaintiffs were involved in money laundering.
• The plaintiffs were ‘Taib helpers’.
• The plaintiffs possessed and/or laundered illicit wealth.
• The plaintiffs were part of the Taib clan.
• The plaintiffs had stolen assets from the people of Sarawak.

BMF Confident of Full Victory in Ongoing Case

The court found that BMF had not explicitly made these claims in the way they were presented by the plaintiffs.

As a result, the court ruled that the plaintiffs’ legal request for a ban on these statements was too broadly formulated, and the plaintiffs were unsuccessful in their bid to have the statements deleted from BMF’s publications.

The court’s refusal to accept exaggerated interpretations of the statements to suppress public interest criticism has been praised by advocacy groups.

BMF’s managing director, Lukas Straumann, in a statement welcomed the ruling.

“This decision is of enormous significance and a huge blow for the plaintiffs who sued us solely to suppress the truth,” said Straumann.

“We are confident that we will also win the remaining parts of the case in full.”

Court Delays Ruling on 259 Additional Text Passages Sought for Deletion by Plaintiffs

In addition to rejecting the plaintiffs’ request for an injunction, the court also decided not to rule immediately on 259 other text passages that the plaintiffs had sought to have deleted.

BMF is a Swiss-based environmental NGO dedicated to the protection of tropical rainforests and combating corruption in the timber industry.

The NGO’s work often involves highlighting the detrimental impact of illegal logging and corporate malpractice in the timber trade, particularly in Southeast Asia.

The Murrays’ real estate company, Sakto, has been embroiled in controversy for years.

Sakto, which operates a number of Canadian real estate ventures, is controlled by Jamilah and Sean.

The company had previously sought to silence BMF’s criticisms, particularly those regarding its alleged links to the Taib family, which has been under scrutiny for years over allegations of corruption and illicit wealth accumulation.

This latest ruling comes after a similar setback for Sakto in 2019, when the company failed to obtain an injunction against BMF.

At that time, Sakto was ordered to pay RM672,565 (approximately S$203,251) after their legal attempts to silence the NGO were unsuccessful. The company appealed the decision.