Aug 8 hearing for Apandi's appeal in suit against Kit Siang

The Court of Appeal has fixed Aug 8 to hear former Attorney-General (AG) Mohamed Apandi Ali's appeal against a High Court's dismissal of his RM10 million defamation lawsuit against Lim Kit Siang.

Mohamed Apandi's counsel M Visvanathan as well as lawyer Simranjit Kaur Chhran representing Lim confirmed to Bernama the hearing date after case management before Court of Appeal deputy registrar Ahmad Fairuz Mohd Puzi today.

On May 23, last year, the High Court in Kuala Lumpur dismissed Mohamed Apandi's suit against the DAP veteran for allegedly defaming him in an article on the 1MDB scandal.

In his suit filed on July 5, 2019, Apandi claimed that on May 6, 2019, Lim had written and caused to be published an article titled "Dangerous fallacy to think Malaysia's on the road to integrity" in Malaysiakini.

He claimed the alleged libellous words in the article implied that he was involved in crime and had abetted in the 1MDB financial scandal, was a person with no morals and integrity, was unethical, and had abused his power when he was the AG.

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

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

Apandi filed the appeal on May 24 last year.