KUALA LUMPUR, Aug. 28 -- A defamation judgment of RM480,000 against Universiti Utara Malaysia lecturer Kamarul Zaman Yusoff must stand after the High Court rejected his last-ditch effort to delay payment to Youth and Sports Minister Hannah Yeoh.

Judicial commissioner Avinder Singh Gill ruled there were no special circumstances to warrant the stay and dismissed the application with costs of RM2,500, Free Malaysia Today reported.

On May 30, the High Court ordered Kamarul to pay Yeoh RM400,000 in damages and RM80,000 in legal costs for defaming her in two Facebook posts published in 2017.

Kamarul filed his appeal from the decision in June but delayed seeking the stay until last month.

Yeoh initiated bankruptcy proceedings after Kamarul f...