The Edge Media Group chairperson Tong Kooi Ong has failed in his preliminary bid in a Singapore High Court suit by Swiss national Xavier Andre Justo, which was filed against him and two others.

The High Court dismissed Tong's application to strike out a reply by Justo, which was submitted to court as a response to amended defence papers the news tycoon filed in January.

"Tong's application, which was heard earlier this month before assistant registrar Li Yuen Ting, was dismissed with costs, according to a court order issued last week reflecting the outcome of the closed-door hearing," reported Singaporean daily The Straits Times .

This means that Justo, who is represented by lawyers Suresh Damodara and Clement Ong, retains the right to rebut the position taken by Tong in his amended defence papers.

Previously, it had been reported that Justo is suing for damages, saying he never received the US$2 million he and The Edge Media Group had agreed upon for two data storage drives that he had handed over in the presence of Tong in February last year at a hotel in Singapore.

Tong denied this claim and said Justo is not entitled to the items as he was "widely reported to have confessed to have stolen the data from PetroSaudi", according to defence papers filed by Tong’s lawyer Doris Chia.

Tong had argued there are no reasonable grounds for Justo's allegations.

Justo, a former PetroSaudi International employee, was reported last year to have provided the documents behind the leaks that led to claims of the misappropriation of billions of ringgit from 1MDB, which is the brainchild of Prime Minister Najib Abdul Razak.

He had purportedly stolen the information from PetroSaudi and is now serving a three-year jail term in Thailand for attempted extortion and blackmail of his former employer.