KUALA LUMPUR (July 16): After being sentenced with one month's jail for contempt of court yesterday, former UMNO Supreme Council member Datuk Seri Lokman Noor Adam today failed to set aside an interim injunction against him for his defamatory videos against 1Malaysia Development Bhd (1MDB) lawyer Rosli Dahlan.
The decision was made by High Court judicial commissioner Datuk Mohd Arief Emran Arifin today and following that, the court granted a permanent injunction against him to prevent him from repeating the defamatory claims against Rosli.
Mohd Arief also fixed April 1 next year as a trial date for Rosli's suit, in which he is claiming RM50 million in damages against Lokman.
Rosli was today represented by Datuk DP Naban, who is a partner in Rosli Dahlan Saravana Partnership, along with Joseph Wong.
Lokman was represented by Datuk Hariharan Tara Singh and Fakhrul Redha Paridul.
Hariharan also informed the court that his client had deleted the two videos that were complained of containing the purported defamatory statements against Rosli.
Rosli himself had also lodged a police report against Lokman with investigation pending.
The lawyer was granted an interim injunction by the High Court last April 5 against Lokman and also filed the suit against the politician.
He filed the defamation suit against Lokman for purportedly making false allegations that the lawyer had received 10% of the RM17 billion settlement by Goldman Sachs to the Malaysian government in the 1MDB matter as legal fees.
Lokman also alleged that Rosli then gave RM500 million from the RM1.7 billion in fees that he allegedly received as a kickback to Parti Pribumi Bersatu Malaysia.
The politician also claimed that Rosli benefitted from the RM2.83 billion AmBank settlement with 1MDB.
The lawyer had categorically denied and rebutted these as fabrications and falsehood.
Yesterday, Lokman was convicted by High Court Justice Collin Lawrence Sequerah of contempt of court in threatening 1MDB witness Datuk Amhari Efendi Nazaruddin and was sentenced to one month's jail, which he is appealing.
Following that, Justice Sequerah granted a stay of the jail sentence pending Lokman's appeal.
On June 1, anti-corruption watchdog Center to Combat Corruption and Cronyism, led by Cynthia Gabriel, issued an unconditional and unequivocal public apology to Rosli for making similar allegations.