The High Court in Kota Kinabalu today dismissed a judicial review application for a defamation suit by Rural and Regional Development Minister Ismail Sabri Yaakob against a local English daily to be heard in Sabah.

Judge Ravinthran Paramaguru said the case had been filed in the High Court of Malaya and counsel Marcel Jude Joseph who made the application, should have made the judicial review application at the same court which is the High Court of Malaya.

He stressed that the jurisdiction of the Kota Kinabalu High Court was limited to cases registered in the state.

The court also ordered Marcel to pay RM2,000 to the respondent who was represented by Senior Federal Counsel Andi Razalijaya A Dadi.

On March 30 last year, Ismail Sabri had filed a suit against the Daily Express based in Sabah over an article which defamed him over the controversy of turtle eggs served at an Umno function in Beluran.

Ismail alleged the defendant had deliberately defamed him by producing three articles entitled:

"Minister and Sabah YB have yet to comply: Dept" dated Jan 24 2016, "Beluran turtle eggs dinner: Findings left to the AG" on Sept 3, 2016 and "Explain turtle eggs confusion first, Lim (Kit Siang) tells Minister" on Sept 6, 2016.

- Bernama