The lawyers for Khazanah Nasional Bhd and its managing director, Azman Mokhtar, said their defamation claims against former Pos Malaysia Bhd’s non-executive chairperson, Adam Kadir, were fixed for trial on June 27 and 28 this year.

In a letter to Bernama in response to a recent media statement by Adam that he had withdrawn all outstanding action against Khazanah and Azman, the lawyers said the mediation conducted by the Kuala Lumpur High Court on Aug 18 and 23 last year, as contained in Adam’s statement, was in respect of pending claims by Khazanah and Azman against Adam for defamation.

They said the mediation was court-initiated as part of the general policy of the courts today to explore whether an action filed could be amicably resolved.

“Contrary to what was reported, the parties have yet to agree on any form of settlement and the defamation claims are fixed for trial on June 27 and 28, 2012,” they added.

The lawyers said that their clients would also like to clarify that there was never any claim by Adam against Khazanah.

They said that Adam filed two actions arising from the termination of his appointment at Pos Malaysia, one was against Pos Malaysia, the finance minister and the government of Malaysia, and the other was against Azman.

The lawyers said, Adam subsequently, withdrew his claim against Pos Malaysia and that his actions against the finance minister, government of Malaysia and Azman was heard and dismissed with costs by the Kuala Lumpur High Court on May 31, last year after a full trial.

They said following this, Adam filed an appeal to the Court of Appeal against the High Court’s dismissal of his two legal actions but he subsequently, withdrew the appeal on Oct 18, last year.

Meanwhile, Adam said in a statement that he looked forward to the much-anticipated trial in June since it pertained to his writings and statements on the performance of Khazanah’s managing director.

- Bernama