After years of aggressive litigation, during which the Canadian daughter and son in law of the late Taib Mahmud sought to effectively destroy the Swiss environment group BMF and remove no less than 259 of their publications relating to abuses in Sarawak, matters are looking up for the defendants.

Today, BMF unpacked the first partial ruling by the Swiss court, published yesterday, which all leaned in favour of the NGO. In short, the three judges ruled that Sean Murray and his wife Jamilah (daughter of the enormously (but unaccountably) wealthy former chief minister and governor of Sarawak, Abdul Taib Mahmud) had over-stated their complaints by accusing the NGO of saying things it had not.

The statements that BMF were alleged to have made about the Murrays and Sakto, a group of Canadian real estate companies controlled by the couple, were that:  

– 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 engaged in money laundering
– The plaintiffs were ‘Taib helpers’
– The plaintiffs possessed and/or laundered potentate money
– The plaintiffs belonged to the Taib clan
– The plaintiffs had stolen assets from the people of Sarawak” 

However, the court ruled that Bruno Manser Fonds had not made the statements in this form, therefore the legal request by the plaintiffs for a ban was too broadly formulated. The court also rejected the legal request to delete all publications allegedly containing these statements. 

The refusal by the court to accept exaggerated interpretations of carefully worded articles in order to silence valid criticism and the raising of concerns in the public interest is established good practice.  The tactic of lawyers seeking to embellish what was actually said to gain traction for their clients is well known.

In consequence, the body of BMF’s work will likely remain in the public sphere where it belongs and the enormous damages that will have been sought will be curtailed.

The judges have yet to rule on specific complaints within the 259 articles or on damages to either side. However, in their press release tonight the NGO was jubilant in stating that the Murrays have in essence lost their case (see below).

“This decision is of enormous significance and a huge blow for the plaintiffs who sued us solely to suppress the truth. We are confident that we will also win the remaining parts of the case in full.”
[Managing Director Lukas Straumann].

Tragically, this news comes on the very same day that the Malaysian federal government has chosen to ignore similar concerns against the neighbouring chief minister cum chief wood chopper during the same era in Sabah, promoting yet another timber kleptocrat, Musa Aman, to the role of ‘head of state’.

Both men rate high on the list of Climate Change Criminals responsible for the corruption that is threatening life on Earth. Sue SR for saying it.