Ex-AG’s suit against Kit Siang moved to next April

The High Court in Kuala Lumpur has set new dates to hear the RM10 million suit by former attorney-general (AG) Mohamed Apandi Ali against DAP’s Lim Kit Siang for allegedly defaming him in an article on the 1MDB scandal.

Judge Azimah Omar fixed April 5 to 9 next year after lawyer M Visvanathan, representing Apandi, told the court that Lim could not be present today as he had recently travelled to Sabah and was now under Covid-19 quarantine.

The court had previously fixed today to Sept 30 and Oct 1 to 2 for the trial.

Earlier, Azimah suggested that the witnesses subpoenaed by Apandi testify first. However, Lim’s lawyer Rayveni Asogan said the DAP veteran wanted to be present in court to listen to the witness testimonies.

The court also fixed Feb 3 next year for further case management.

Rayveni, when met after court proceedings, confirmed that Lim would be under quarantine for 14 days following his return from Sabah for the state election.

On July 5, 2019, Apandi sued Lim, saying in his statement of claim on May 6 that Lim had written and caused to be published an article entitled “Dangerous fallacy to think Malaysia’s on the road to integrity” on Malaysiakini.

He said the allegedly libellous words in the article meant that he was involved in crime and had abetted in the 1MDB scandal, and that he was a person with no morals and integrity who was unethical and had abused his power as AG.

Apandi, who was AG from July 27, 2015 to June 4, 2018, contended that the allegedly libellous words were untrue and written with the intention of tarnishing his image and credibility for cheap publicity.

He is seeking aggravated and exemplary damages, as well as RM10 million in general damages, an injunction to prevent Lim and/or his agents from republishing the alleged defamatory words, and other reliefs deemed fit by the court.