(April 8): DAP national publicity chief Tony Pua, who is being sued for defamation by Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak over his remarks about 1Malaysia Development Berhad, has been ordered by the High Court to file his defence by Friday.

Lawyer Joanne Chua Tzu Fae said the deadline was set during case management on Monday before deputy registrar Pavani Kasi.

Another defendant Chan Chee Keong in the suit, represented by Raul Lee Bhaskaran, had filed his defence on March 31.

"The suit will be heard before judge Vazeer Alam Mydin Meera," she said.

The matter has been fixed for further case management on May 11.

Najib filed the suit on March 6 at the Kuala Lumpur  High Court registry through Messrs Hafarizam Wan & Aisha Mubarak in relation to Pua's speech at a DAP fund-raising dinner held on November 3 last year.

In the suit, Najib also named Chan, the Media Rakyat portal owner, as second defendant.

Najib said that the recording of the speech which was uploaded by Chan or his agents on to Media Rakyat's YouTube and Facebook page, was later re-published by Pua on his own Facebook page.

Najib is seeking for an apology, a retraction of the statement and damages.

He is also seeking an injunction to restrain Pua, the Petaling Jaya Utara MP, from further publishing any defamatory statements about him.

Gobind Singh Deo, DAP's national legal bureau chief, had posted on Twitter that Najib could rest assured that the party would fight the lawsuit to the very end.

This is the first time a prime minister is suing a lawmaker.

Najib had earlier sent a letter of demand to Pua to apologise within 14 days in two national newspapers, or face legal action over the speech titles "  “Tony Pua: Najib is creating the biggest scandal ever in the history of Malaysia”.

According to a transcript in the letter, Pua had said: “Let me tell you, this is the problem with Barisan Nasional. No one dares to stand up to the prime minister, and Najib now is like a king. A king that is creating the biggest scandal ever in the history of Malaysia. Huge! No one dares to say a thing, nothing, not even the pin drop from any of MCA of Gerakan leader or even Umno leaders...

“It is disgraceful, it is scandalous for a 100% Ministry of Finance-owned entity with the board of advisers chaired by the prime minister himself not being able to submit accounts on time, especially when the company is so big, when the public looks at it with great interest (RM)36 billion in debt they are not able to submit their account on time…

“There is only one reason why I think can. The reason why can is because all these MCA, MIC, Gerakan kakis all don’t dare to challenge their prime minister, all say okay okay thank you, please carry on and rob the people’s money.” - The Malaysian Insider