The Armed Forces Fund Board (LTAT) yesterday withdrew its defamation suit against PKR vice-president Rafizi Ramli at the Kuala Lumpur High Court.

Rafizi's lawyer said Saiful Izham Ramli confirmed that the case was suddenly called yesterday, before the court was informed that LTAT was withdrawing the suit. 

"There was no reason cited. Following that, Justice Ahmad Zaidi Ibrahim ordered the case to be withdrawn," said Saiful.

He added that the judge made no order as to costs.

The trial had already started with its first witness, namely LTAT deputy chief executive officer Zakaria Shariff testifying that LTAT was not specifically formed to look after the social and economic welfare of former army personnel.

Saiful appeared with Azhar Arman Ali for Rafizi, while Izat Osman appeared for LTAT.

LTAT had sued Rafizi for defamation after he alleged that the late payments by 1MDB to Perbadanan Perwira Harta Malaysia (PPHM) for the Sungai Besi air base relocation work for the Bandar Malaysia mega-project resulted in LTAT pumping in its own funds to enable its subsidiary to pay its contractors on schedule and thus delaying payments to army veterans.

The Bandar Malaysia project, owned by the beleaguered 1MDB, has been beset by problems and several quarters have alleged that LTAT was one of the government entities involved in bailing it out.