KUALA LUMPUR (June 9): The Sessions Court here on Wednesday (June 8) ordered newly-elected PKR deputy president Rafizi Ramli to enter his defence for a suit brought against him by former Sapura Energy Bhd chief executive officer and managing director Tan Sri Shahril Shamsuddin.

During a case management, Justice Lailatul Zuraida Harron @ Harun had directed Rafizi to file his defence before July 20, which is when the next case management is set for mention via e-review.

The former member of Parliament for Pandan previously said he had received the summons on May 11 in Kuantan.

According to Rafizi, Shahril had filed the suit following his statements in reaction to former prime minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak wanting the government to inject more funds into Sapura Energy.

Rafizi said he is willing to defend his statements in court and that his statements regarding Sapura Energy were made to protect the public interest.

Rafizi previously said he expects Shahril's suit to be a start to determine the effort to ensure public investments through public investment institutions such as Permodalan Nasional Bhd (PNB), the Employees Provident Fund (EPF), Kumpulan Wang Persaraan (Diperbadankan) (KWAP) and Lembaga Tabung Haji follow the required governance for public investments.

He added that in the economic structure where large amounts of public funds are invested in public listed companies, the governance in the usage of such funds must be tight to ensure that the public savings are not lost and these companies do not suffer huge losses.

Rafizi had opposed Najib's view of bailing out Sapura Energy, claiming that public funds should not be used to protect the elite.