KUALA LUMPUR (March 13): The RM100 million defamation suit filed by Synergy Promenade Sdn Bhd (SPSB), the troubled master developer for the Kuala Lumpur Vertical City (KLVC) project, against former deputy minister Datuk Seri Razali Ibrahim has been thrown out by the High Court today.

High Court Judge Datuk Nik Hasmat Nik Mohamad made the ruling in her chambers today and ordered SPSB to pay cost of RM3,000.

Lawyer Chetan Jethwani, who appeared on behalf of SPSB, said the High Court ruled that the various statements issued by Razali, who was then deputy minister in charge of Felda, did not contain any defamatory words, thus the suit has no cause of action.

Razali filed the application to strike out the suit in October last year and this application was allowed by the High Court today.

On July 16, 2018, SPSB filed the defamation suit against Razali Ibrahim over various statements issued by him. The company claimed the statements made by Razali had tarnished its business reputation, and were completely false and baseless.

The company was also seeking an injunction against him not to repeat and/or republish the defamatory statements, damages totalling RM100 million and an apology in terms which is to be approved by SPSB.

Razali is the third person to be dragged to court by SPSB over the controversial KLVC project.

The company had filed two separate suits against former Federal Land Development Authority (Felda) chairman Tan Sri Shahrir Abdul Samad, and The New Straits Times Press (Malaysia) Bhd and one of its reporters at the Malay-language Berita Harian newspaper, Che Wan Badrul Alias, respectively on June 5 and June 20, in relation to the KLVC project.