PKR secretary-general Rafizi Ramli has filed an application to strike out parts of a statement of claim by Lembaga Tabung Angkatan Tentera (LTAT) in its suit filed against him.

Speaking to reporters after case management on the matter before High Court judicial commissioner Roslan A Bakar today, Rafizi’s lawyer Saiful Izham Ramli said the application was filed last Monday.

The application was filed as Rafizi did not make some of the purported remarks as stated by LTAT in its statement of claim, Saiful explained.

“In this case, we say that their statement of claim is defective,” he told reporters at the High Court in Kuala Lumpur.

In his application, Rafizi pointed out that the Malaysiakini article that LTAT had referred to in its statement of claim was in English.

“(But) the statement of claim stated that the article was written in Bahasa Malaysia. This is erroneous and is prejudicial to the defendant’s position.”

Referring further to the March 24 article titled “Rafizi: I have document showing LTAT’s link to 1MDB”, LTAT had purportedly accused Rafizi of being the publisher of the article.

“But the defendant had nothing to do with composing or publishing the article,” said Rafizi in his application.

Meanwhile, Saiful also clarified that they were not applying to strike out the whole suit that was filed by LTAT on May 6.

“We are not striking out the whole suit because we want to go to court,” he said.

Judicial commissioner Roslan fixed Oct 12 to hear the application.

LTAT is suing Rafizi for defamation following his exposé that army pensioners were not paid their retirement compensations on time.

In March, Rafizi alleged that possible late payments by 1Malaysia Development Bhd (1MDB) to Perbadanan Perwira Harta Malaysia (PPHM) for the air base relocation work may have resulted in LTAT having to pump its own funds to enable its subsidiary to pay its contractors on schedule, and thus having to delay payments to army veterans.

The Pandan MP claimed that he received complaints from Armed Forces veterans who had been waiting for their gratuity for months on end.

The PKR vice-president is also facing a charge under the Official Secrets Act (OSA) for exposing a portion of the auditor-general's report on 1MDB as part of the LTAT exposé.

The auditor-general's report on 1MDB remains a classified document.