PUTRAJAYA (Jan 14): KomarkCorp Bhd’s (KL:KOMARK) final attempt to pursue a defamation suit against The Edge Communications Sdn Bhd failed on Wednesday after the Federal Court unanimously dismissed its application for leave to appeal.

The apex court panel, led by Federal Court judge Tan Sri Nallini Pathmanathan, together with Datuk Nordin Hassan and Datuk Mohd Nazlan Mohd Ghazali, unanimously ruled that the impugned article published by The Edge did not refer to KomarkCorp and therefore disclosed no arguable case.

“Having considered the matter, we are not convinced that there are sufficient points that merit reference to the Federal Court under Article 96 (of the Federal Constitution). So, we dismiss the application,” Nallini said in delivering the brief decision. The Federal Court also awarded costs of RM50,000 to The Edge. 

Lawyer K Shanmuga and Asma Azmi appeared for The Edge, while Alex Tan and Tan Su Ning represented KomarkCorp.

This latest ruling arose from KomarkCorp’s continued legal challenge over The Edge's reporting on the so-called “hidden hands” behind penny stock movements on the local bourse, Bursa Malaysia.

KomarkCorp had sought leave to appeal to the Federal Court after losing at both the High Court and the Court of Appeal, in a bid to overturn earlier decisions that had dismissed its defamation claim against The Edge.

Alex argued during the hearing on Wednesday that a company could maintain a defamation action where allegedly defamatory statements concern individuals who control the company, contending that statements directed primarily at individuals could nevertheless reflect on the company itself.

In response, Shanmuga submitted that the courts had consistently found that the impugned article published by The Edge did not refer to KomarkCorp at all, but instead discussed individuals alleged to have influenced share trading.

“There are consistent findings in both the High Court and the Court of Appeal that the impugned article did not refer to the company...the impugned words referred to the people allegedly manipulating the shares," he said.

KomarkCorp first filed the suit following the publication of The Edge's 2021 follow-up report titled “Hidden hands behind penny stock surge under scrutiny”, which examined investigations into unusual trading activities involving a group of penny stocks.

That report built on The Edge Malaysia’s weekly September 2020 special report, “Hidden hands behind penny stock surge”, which identified about 21 listed companies whose share prices had risen sharply despite weak fundamentals, and highlighted links through common shareholders and directorships.

In July 2025, the Court of Appeal unanimously upheld the High Court’s March 2024 ruling, which found that The Edge had not defamed KomarkCorp in its 2021 article examining the penny stock surge. The appellate court held that the article did not allege wrongdoing by KomarkCorp and was published without malice.

In an earlier ruling, the High Court had said the impugned article did not single out KomarkCorp as having engaged in unlawful conduct, nor did it state or imply that the company was part of any stock manipulation scheme.

The trial for this lawsuit at the High Court in Kuala Lumpur proceeded for two days on Feb 5 and Feb 7, 2024.

During the trial, The Edge publisher and group chief executive officer Datuk Ho Kay Tat and editor-in-chief Kathy Fong testified for the publication, while KomarkCorp executive director Roy Ho Yew Kee testified for the self-adhesive label company.

KomarkCorp shares remained unchanged at five sen at the time of writing on Wednesday morning, valuing the company at just RM11.55 million. 

Read also:
Court of Appeal concurs with High Court that The Edge did not defame KomarkCorp in ‘Hidden hands behind penny stock surge under scrutiny’ article
Court rules The Edge did not defame KomarkCorp in article on manipulation of penny stocks
Special Report: Hidden hands behind penny stock surge