Former second finance minister Nor Mohamed Yakcop need not to testify in a suit brought by former NSTP deputy chairperson Kalimullah Masheerul Hassan against lawyer Matthias Chang Wen Chieh.

mohamed nor yaacob The High Court had on Dec 20, allowed Nor Mohamed (left) , who is currently Minister in the Prime Minister's Department, to set aside a subpoena for him to testify as Chang's witness in the suit.  

Asked on the matter, Chang's counsel Vinod Kamalanathan told reporters here today that Judge Datuk Asmabi Mohamad had granted Nor Mohamed's application to set aside the subpoena after hearing submissions from both parties.

Vinod said the court also fixed Jan 4 to decide on similar applications (to set aside subpoenas) from Umno Youth chief Khairy Jamaluddin Abu Bakar and Securities Commission employees.  

On Dec 2, the court had granted Limkokwing University of Creative Technology founder Lim Kok Wing's application to set aside a subpoena for him to testify while former director of South Peninsular Industries Bhd Azman Hashim will testify in the trial after he withdrew his application .

    

The four and the employees were subpoenaed to testify as Chang's witnesses in the ongoing trial of the suit brought by Kalimullah.

On June 29, 2006, Kalimullah filed a defamation suit after Chang had allegedly made statements against him on June 13, the same year, at a press conference, a report of which was published in the Singapore Straits Times through its Malaysian correspondent, Leslie Lau.

He is asking for RM50 million in damages, costs, interests and an injunction to restrain Chang from publishing similar words.

He said the words in the article meant that he was dishonest and had no credibility, was unreliable, tainted, rotten, faint-hearted, manipulative and a betrayer of Malaysians.

Chang, previously a political secretary to former prime minister Dr Mahathir Mohamad, had also filed a counter-claim against Kalimullah on July 14, 2006, among others, seeking RM150 million in damages.

- Bernama