The law firm representing the estranged wife of the Tengku Temenggong of Kelantan, Tengku Muhammad Fakhry Sultan Ismail Petra, and her mother in the RM105 million defamation suit brought against them by the prince has applied to discharge itself.

Messrs Fakrul Hisham Abdullah & Associates, in its summons in chambers, also sought a court order for a temporary stay of all proceedings relating to the suit against Manohara Odelia Pinot and her mother, Daisy Fajarina, pending the disposal of its applicaton which was filed at the civil high court on Sept 9.

manohara odelia pinot malaysiakini interview 290609 06 The application was accompanied by an affidavit in support by counsel Fakrul Rizal Abdul Manaf who was retained by the two to defend them in the suit which was filed on July 20.

In his affidavit affirmed on Sept 8, Fakrul Rizal said Daisy and Manohara had appointed Faiz Adnan & Associates of Jalan Abdullah off Bangsar and Farhat Abbas & Rekan of Jakarta, Indonesia, as intermediaries and instructed that all documents, questions requests by his firm be made through them.

No clear and direct instructions

He said the defendants had instructed the intermediaries that they would not come to Malaysia for any discussion between his firm and the intermediaries.

Without clear and direct instructions from them, he could not proceed with any action on their behalf, he said.

He said that because of the defendants' move to deal through intermediaries, his law firm had not received full cooperation from them, making it difficult to prepare the relevant documents.

Yesterday, Mohd Haaziq Pillay, counsel for Tengku Fakhry, said that the writ of summons was served last month but Daisy and Manohara had yet to enter their defence.

The Kelantan prince is suing his wife and mother-in law, claiming that they had falsely and maliciously defamed him in allegations they made at news conferences between April and June about Manohara being abused.

Mohd Haaziq, when contacted today, said that if Daisy and Manohara persisted in not entering their defence he would apply to the court for a judgment in default.

- Bernama