The defamation suit involving the chairperson of the state committee on economic planing, finance and welfare Husam Musa and the Tanah Merah MP Shaari Hassan has been settled out of court.

The decision was recorded before Kota Bharu High Court judge Ahmad Zaidi Ibrahim today after Shaari, who was named as the defendant in the case, agreed to the offer of financial compensation by the plaintiff.

At a press conference at his office later, Husam, however, declined to announce the quantum of the compensation but said "it was satisfactory".

According to the facts of the case, the defendant had on Dec 25, 2007 made a slanderous speech at 5pm at the Padang Lalang Mosque, Tanah Merah by saying that "Datuk Husam is a person who wears the PAS mask" and "Datuk Husam is the richest man in Kelantan because he has money totalling RM30 million which was paid by logging company operators because he had approved licences to them to carry out logging in the state of Kelantan".

Subsequently, Husam filed the suit on Feb 23, 2008 demanding that the defendant apologise to him as well as pay compensation to the plaintiff.

At the proceedings today, Husam was represented by Hisham Fauzi while Shaari was represented by Azmi Abdullah.

- Bernama