The Kuala Lumpur High Court will hear an application by two Kelantan palace officials to strike out a defamation suit filed against them by Tengku Temenggong Kelantan, Tengku Muhammad Fakhry Sultan Ismail Petra on March 25.

The application filed by Nik Mahmud Nik Jaafar, 32, an administrative officer at the Office of the Sultan of Kelantan and Abdul Halim Hamad, 58, the comptroller of the Kelantan royal household, will be heard before judicial commissioner Zabariah Mohd Yusof.

High Court deputy registrar Nazri Ismail set the date in his chambers when the case came up for case management today.

Nazri also set March 15 for further case management to enable the constesting parties to file written submissions.

The two palace officials are seeking to set aside the suit filed by the Kelantan prince on Aug 10, 2009 on the grounds that it was flawed, frivolous, an abuse of the court process and it also did not reveal any reasonable cause of action.

They said Tengku Muhammad Fakhry in his suit also failed to state clearly the overall contents of a news article carried by the electronic media which he claimed defamed him.

Tengku Muhammad Fakhry had filed the suit against the duo over a press statement issued by them on June 15, 2009, which he claimed touched on his marital problems with his wife Manohara Odelia Pinot, a model from Indonesia.

He alleged that the statement portrayed him as a wife abuser and that he had been sidelined by his father and the Kelantan palace.

The two defendants in their statement of defence, said they had qualified privilege to issue the press statement as they were only carrying out their palace duties as per the instruction of the Regent of Kelantan.

They further contended that the marital problems between the Tengku Temenggong and his wife was the couple's own personal matter and had nothing to do with the Office of the Sultan of Kelantan.

- Bernama