KUALA LUMPUR (Feb 9): UMNO Youth chief Dr Asyraf Wajdi Dusuki was ordered to enter his defence by the KL High Court on Wednesday (Feb 9) in a RM5 million libel suit filed by former health minister Datuk Seri Dr Dzulkefly Ahmad, who had also taken a similar legal action against former premier Datuk Seri Najib Razak, after he alleged nepotism in the appointment of Dzulkefly’s daughter to the board of Amanah Ikhtiar Malaysia.
An aide to Dzulkefly, who is also Kuala Selangor member of Parliament, told theedgemarkets.com that the court ordered Asyraf Wajdi to file his defence by Feb 23, and that an extension of time could be sought from the court if needed.
“Today is the first case management before senior assistant registrar Nurul Izzah Hassan Basri.
“Dzulkefly was represented by Farhana Halim from Messrs Farida & Company and the defendant was represented by Mohamed Baharudeen Mohamed Arif from Messrs Shahrul Hamidi & Haziq.
“The court has directed the defendant to file his defence by Feb 23, and has fixed a further case management on Feb 28,” he said.
Dzulkefly sued Asyraf Wajdi for libel in December 2021. The Kuala Selangor lawmaker had also sued Najib over a Facebook posting he made regarding the appointment of the former's daughter Nurul Iman to the Amanah Ikhtiar Malaysia board.
In the case of Asyraf Wajdi, he had commented on the issue in a tweet dated Aug 24, 2020 at 1:13pm. A screenshot of the tweet was taken in which Asyraf Wajdi appeared to be referring to a Sinar Harian article dated Jan 28, 2019.
Dzulkefly complained the content of the libelous tweet was meant to personally attack and humiliate the Amanah politician, who is also the party's strategic director.
He further claimed that it was politically motivated, and clearly intended to defame and damage his reputation without any verification.
“Prior to publishing the defamatory statement, the defendant had failed and/or neglected and/or deliberately failed to confirm the truth of the allegations made against the plaintiff whereas the plaintiff had openly denied any wrongdoing and had proved that the plaintiff did not engage in any practice of nepotism or cronyism,” he said.
“To date the issue of the defamatory statement specifically regarding nepotism and cronyism published by the defendant and/or agents and/or representatives and/or administrators of the defendant's Twitter account is still referred to and used to disprove the credibility of the plaintiff as a politician by parties concerned.”
The former health minister said Nurul Iman's appointment was made before he became a minister, and that her appointment as director was retained even after the Pakatan Harapan government collapsed in 2020.
Dzulkefly is seeking an injunction from the court to stop Asyraf Wajdi or his agents from publishing and repeating the defamatory statements, general damages of RM5 million, aggravated and exemplary damages, costs of the action and other relief deemed fit by the court.
Najib has reportedly also been asked to enter his defence by the High Court.