McNeil wins case, Justice Kouhota orders newspaper to pay $70,000 fine

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The high court this afternoon ordered Solomon Star newspaper to pay a total of $70,000 fine to the Commissioner of Lands Allan McNeil after it found stories it published against him were untrue.

Justice Emmanuel Kouhota in his ruling today found the articles that Solomon Star journalist Alfred Sasako wrote against McNeil to be untrue and ordered both to pay $50,000 to McNeil in damages and a further $20,000 for aggravated damages. Solomon Star as also ordered to meet the court expenses regarding the hearing of the case.

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Justice Kouhota said both the articles by Solomon Star in January 2022, one with the headline Is McNeil on the way out with a sub-headline that he (McNeil) could be removed for working against DCGA and McNeil’s lie exposed were unsubstantiated and were untrue.

Kouhota said they were serious things to say but there were no truth in the articles.

“A day of vindication and justice,” said McNeil.

News@SBMOnline2023