Businessman Feroz Gulam Mohammed (left), and FBC CEO Riyaz Sayed-Khaiyum.

The hearing for the defamation matter between Fijian Broadcasting Corporation Chief Executive Riyaz Sayed-Khaiyum and businessman Feroz Gulam Mohammed was called before the High Court in Suva today.

Sayed-Khaiyum is suing Feroz Mohammed for allegedly posting two defamatory articles against him on his Facebook account.

The alleged postings took place between May 16th and July 17th, 2018.

Feroz Mohammed allegedly shared a media article that talked about how FBC was continuously recording a financial loss from the year 2010 to 2015. He shared the article and allegedly stated that the CEO was looting FBC.

In the second article, the former National Federation Party candidate allegedly questioned the Prime Minister, Voreqe Bainimarama on why the majority of Muslims are getting high-ranking jobs in the government and that Sayed-Khaiyum is controlling Fiji.

Riyaz Sayed-Khaiyum told the court that the first article described him as a corrupt and dishonest individual, and there were no facts to support that he was corrupt. He said he had worked his way up to earn his position and such degrading comments affected his reputation, family and company.

He said he values his reputation and the alleged shared articles affected how the public and his employees viewed him as the leader of a national broadcaster.

Sayed-Khaiyum said freedom of speech is not absolute and this is why defamation laws are in place. The CEO also said the FBC board decided to take action against Feroz.

He adds that the postings indicated that Feroz is the FB account owner because his poor writing style was obvious through the shared articles.

Sayed-Khaiyum says this case is of importance because in this day and age, this type of unregulated action of people making defamatory comments against certain individuals on a domain that is accessed globally is common.

The CEO is seeking damages, an injunction, and costs in this case.

Police constable Samuela Finau told the court that he was able to confirm that Feroz was the FB account owner through the URL address.

He said Feroz’s FB account had mutual friends and the content was also the same. Finau also said Feroz had admitted to him that he was the owner of the FB account that shared the defamatory comments.

Sayed-Khaiyum is represented by Immanuel Narayan and Mohammed is represented by Gavin O’Driscoll. Gavin’s client is currently in New Zealand.

The counsels in this case have been instructed to file their closing submissions and High Court Judge Justice Masoor’s ruling is on notice.