Former MCA president Dr Ling Liong Sik has applied to strike out Prime Minister Najib Abdul Razak's defamation suit.

Former prime minister Dr Mahathir Mohamad has also filed an affidavit in support of the application.

Parties to the suit have informed Kuala Lumpur High Court judge John Louis O'Hara, who fixed March 31 for further case management for Najib's lawyers to seek instructions.

Lawyer Gregory Ling, for the MCA president, said among the reasons cited for the striking-out application is that there is no reasonble cause of action and that other people had made similar calls.

"My client was merely supporting Mahathir's views in this matter," he said, adding that Mahathir had also filed an affidavit in support of Ling's application.

Lawyer M Reza Hassan, for Najib, confirmed they had been served with Ling's application and due to this “we have to seek further instructions in this matter”.

Reza said that Najib has also applied to strike out certain paragraphs of Ling's defence and counter-claim.

The striking-out application was filed on Feb 15 and served on Najib's lawyers on Tuesday.

Despite the striking-out application, both lawyers indicated that the proposed mediation process was still on-going as Justice O' Hara ordered both parties to settle the matter among themselves.

Ling had wanted Najib to be present in the mediation process in a bid to settle the suit.

It was previously reported that during the last case management on Jan 11, Justice O Hara had directed the two parties to explore the possibility of mediation .

'Not fit to be PM'

Najib had filed the suit against Ling for defamation on Oct 29, following a report carried by a news portal that quoted the former MCA president and transport minister as calling for Najib's resignation.

This was over allegations of funds entering into the prime minister's personal bank accounts.

Najib, who is also Umno president, had complained that the words uttered by Ling meant that he had abused his powers, was not qualified to be the leader of a government, that he was involved in a scandalous or financial conspiracy and that he was not fit to be the BN chairperson.

Najib is seeking general, aggravated and exemplary damages from the former MCA president besides a written apology.

In reply, Ling filed his defence and counter-claim, questioning why he was singled out for the suit as there were other Umno politicians who had also called for the prime minister's resignation but were not sued by Najib.

Ling pointed out that ex-premier Dr Mahathir Mohamad was Najib's staunchest critic and had made various statements questioning the PM's integrity.

The former premier in his supporting affidavit for Ling's application questioned why it was alright for him to criticise Najib but not Ling.