Mokhtar Sidin J:

[1] At the end of the trial on 15 October 1994, I had reserved judgment for a week. I had then delivered an oral judgment in open Court on 22 October 1994 but could not make available a copy of the judgment because they were handwritten. Since then the judgment has been typed and I now make it available to the parties.

[2] The plaintiff in this case is one Tan Sri Dato Vincent Tan Chee Yioun, a businessman. He is and was at all material times the group chief executive officer of Berjaya Group Berhad which is a company listed on the Kuala Lumpur Stock Exchange. The plaintiff is also the group chief executive officer of Berjaya Industrial Berhad, Berjaya Textiles Berhad, Berjaya Leisure Berhad, Berjaya Sports Toto Berhad and Berjaya Singer Berhad. (These companies together with Berjaya Group Berhad are hereinafter referred to as "the Berjaya Group of Companies").

[3] The plaintiff claims against all the seven defendants that they had either individually or in combination among themselves and/or with persons unknown conspired by way of a systematic publication of articles vilifying the person and character of the plaintiff with the object of destroying the plaint