Friday 29 Mar 2024
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KUALA LUMPUR (July 5): The High Court on Tuesday (July 5) dismissed an injunction application made by Umno president Datuk Seri Dr Ahmad Zahid Hamidi against former premier Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad to prohibit the statesman from repeating his allegation that the two of them had met to discuss Ahmad Zahid's court case.

Justice Datuk Rozana Ali Yusoff dismissed Ahmad Zahid's injunction as Dr Mahathir had pleaded fair comment, justification and qualified privilege in his defence and was hesitant to grant the injunction before the hearing of the defamation suit.

The High Court ruled that this is not a stage for any parties to discuss the merits of the case and that Ahmad Zahid as the plaintiff would have to prove that what was said by Dr Mahathir is untrue.

As a result, Justice Rozana dismissed the inter partes injunction and ordered Ahmad Zahid, who is also the Bagan Datuk Member of Parliament, to pay RM5,000 costs.

Dr Mahathir's counsels Mior Nor Haidir Suhaimi and Muhammad Rafique Rashid Ali confirmed the decision to theedgemarkets.com.

As such, Justice Rozana fixed Aug 23 for case management of the main suit.

Ahmad Zahid was represented by Shahrul Fazli Kamarulzaman.

In April, Ahmad Zahid filed a defamation suit against Dr Mahathir, who as the Parti Pejuang Tanah Air chairman claimed during the Johor state election in February this year that Ahmad Zahid met him in 2018 and 2019 to discuss the former's criminal case, a claim which the Umno president had denied.

Dr Mahathir in his defence to Ahmad Zahid's suit listed the Umno president as having met him on several occasions on June 6 and Sept 13, 2018 at Perdana Leadership Foundation, then Feb 23 and Feb 24, 2020 at his residence at Mines Resort, and Feb 25, 2020 at the Prime Minister's Office.

"It is true that in those meetings, Ahmad Zahid did mention his court case. Those things happened. Hence, such statements should not be considered as defamatory," he said, adding that there was no mala fide or ill intention in him making the comments on Feb 23 this year that resulted in the suit being filed against him.

Ahmad Zahid in reply to Dr Mahathir's defence last month denied that he met the former premier to discuss his criminal case in June 2018 as he had not been charged or investigated yet.

The Umno president added that the meeting in June 2018 and following that were concerning Umno where Dr Mahathir was the president from 1982 to 2004.

Ahmad Zahid questioned how he could have discussed his court case in front of other senior Umno leaders who accompanied him when he was not yet investigated or charged.

Edited BySurin Murugiah
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