The High Court will decide on May 22 the Federal Land Development Authority’s (Felda) application to enter a judgment in default of appearence against Parti Keadilan Rakyat (PKR) secretary-general Saifuddin Nasution Ismail.

Judicial Commissioner Lee Heng Cheong also fixed May 10 for the parties to file their written submissions after meeting Felda’s counsel, Choo Shi Jin, and SH Tan, for Saifuddin, in chambers.

Felda filed the application against Saifuddin on April 5 after he failed  to enter a memorandum of appearance in court in a defamation suit brought by Felda against him and six others.

The six, however, had filed their memoranda of appearance and statements of defence.

On Jan 7, Felda sued National Felda Settlers’ Children’s Association (Anak) president Mazlan Aliman, PAS secretary-general Mustafa Ali, Saifuddin and four others over statements regarding the sale of crude palm oil to Israel.

The other four are Harakah editor-in-chief Ahmad Lutfi Othman, editor Taufek Yahya, the author of the article, Mohd Arif Atan, and Harakah printer Angkatan Edaran Ent Sdn Bhd.

In its statement of claim, Felda claimed that Mazlan had uploaded a defamatory statement in his Facebook page on Nov 19 last year and made a defamatory statement at a gathering in front of the Felda office four days later.

Felda claimed that the alleged defamatory statements were published by the other defendants in several articles in the Harakah newspaper between Nov 26 and 29.

It said the alleged defamatory statements had affected Felda’s reputation and that the defendants did it to destroy the people’s faith and belief in Felda for their own agenda and personal gains.

Felda is seeking general, special, aggravated and exemplary damages, interest and costs and an injunction to restrain Mazlan and his agents from discussing or publishing the alleged defamatory statements on the Internet or in the print media.

The six defendants in their defence statements stated that Felda had no legal right to file the suit against them and that they would rely on qualified privilege and fair comment on a matter of public interest.

- Bernama