Columnist did not defame Sir Bob, lawyer tells court

An article about property tycoon and commentator Sir Robert Jones could not qualify as defamation and was simply stating an honest opinion, a High Court jury was told today.

Sir Robert has taken a defamation case in the High Court at Wellington against the article's author, Kapiti Coast investment adviser Chris Lee.

Sir Robert's lawyer, Michael Reed QC, said the article suggested Sir Robert had inflated the investment company's assets to increase his fee.

The article said the investment company paid 8 per cent of its gross assets to the holding company as a management fee, but the fee was actually 8 per cent of its gross income.

Mr Lee's lawyer, Matthew McClelland, told the court today the article did not qualify as defamation.

"It is crystal clear that no one has shunned Sir Robert Jones, his reputation has not been lowered and he hasn't been exposed to hatred, contempt or ridicule as a result."

Mr Lee, 59, told the court that he made a factual error in the article but did not mean that as a criticism of Sir Robert, as he held him in the highest regard.

"Any criticism was not aimed at Sir Robert Jones but at his company's board of directors. I have no malice or ill will towards him."

The article was published on his company's website in 2007 and subsequently printed in Wellington's City Life newspaper without his knowledge, Mr Lee said.

Sir Robert told the court yesterday the "scurrilous" article effectively accused him of committing "one of the worst commercial crimes in our history."

The trial is continuing.

- NZPA