The Kuala Lumpur High Court has set June 17 for case management of the suit of Selangor Menteri Besar Abdul Khalid Ibrahim against the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission, its former chief Commissioner Ahmad Said Hamdan and the government over a statement claiming that he had abused his power.

High Court deputy registrar Norazlin Othman fixed the date in chambers after meeting Abdul Khalid's counsel Wan Anuar Shaddat Mohamed Amin and senior federal counsel Habibah Haron for MACC.

On April 27, 2009, Abdul Khalid filed the suit claiming that the disclosure made by Ahmad Said on Feb 21, 2009 on the commission's findings of his alleged misuse of power over the maintenance of his personal car and the purchase of 46 head of Hari Raya Aidiladha cattle for the Bandar Tun Razak parliamentary constituency was libellous.

He seeks compensatory, aggravated, exemplary, general and special damages as well as an injunction to stop the defendants from further uttering the defamatory statement, but he did not specify the amount sought.

In his statement of claim, Abdul Khalid said that Ahmad Said's statement meant that he was a liar, unprincipled, corrupt, unethical and an unfit politician who had committed a criminal offence.

Ahmad Said, in his statement of defence filed on July 31, 2009, denied making a defamatory statement against Khalid, saying that he had uttered the words in good faith and without ill-intent.

He said the words were uttered in response to questions from media representatives during a media conference on Feb 20, 2009 on the progress of the commission's investigation into alleged corruption and power abuse by the Selangor menteri besar.

Ahmad Said added that he had issued the statement concerned in his capacity as the anti-corruption commission head and was fulfilling his responsibility to inform the public of progress of the investigation.

- Bernama