Deputy Minister in the Prime Minister's Department T Murugiah today filed a RM10 million defamation suit against PPP president M Kayveas for defaming him.

kayveas murugiah ppp Murugiah, who was a former PPP supreme council member, filed the suit at the High Court registry in Kuala Lumpur through his lawyer, Francis Pereira.

According to Bernama, Murugiah in his statement of claim, said Kayveas had made defamatory statements at several news conferences which was untrue and had an ulterior motive. He claimed that the statements were published in Berita Harian , The Star and The New Sunday Times on May 10, posted on The New Straits Times Online on May 11, and aired by TV3 on May 9.

"The statements were slanderous and aimed at ridiculing me as a senator, a deputy minister and a PPP supreme council member then. As a result, it had tarnished my good name and defamed me and affected my reputation," he said.

Murugiah is also seeking aggravated and exemplary damages and costs, and an injunction to restraint Kayveas from making any further defamatory statement against him.

He's confused, says Kayveas

When contacted later, Kayveas called Murugiah a "desperate and confused person" who filed the suit because the latter was at a lost after being party-less.

"He must have ran out of issues and wants attention. He probably ran out of money too, and is trying to get some from me.

"Everyday he puts up a show, and today it is a suit against me," said Kayveas.

He added that Murugiah was creating issues to gain attention because he is without a party and is likely to be left out in the imminent cabinet reshuffle.

He also questioned why the long delay in Murugiah filing the suit since the alleged defamatory remarked were made in May.

"This is an afterthought, an indication that it is a frivolous attempt to show the public that he is giving me problems," he said.