Court denies Lip Eng's bid to stay RM2m defamation ruling

The civil court has dismissed Lim Lip Eng’s application to stay an RM2 million defamation ruling against him.

The High Court in Kuala Lumpur this morning denied the application by the Kepong MP to stay the verdict pending his appeal to the Court of Appeal.

When contacted, the DAP lawmaker’s counsel, Guok Ngek Seong, confirmed Judge Akhtar Tahir’s denied the stay application during Zoom proceedings earlier this morning.

The lawyer said the civil court judge ruled that there were no special circumstances for the stay and ordered Lim to pay RM3,000 in costs to plaintiffs MonSpace (M) Sdn Bhd and its founder Jessy Lai.

Guok said Lim will file an application with the Court of Appeal to stay the civil court verdict pending disposal of the appeal.

Around 4pm this afternoon, the lawyer confirmed that Lim had filed the stay application with the Court of Appeal.

On March 16, the High Court ruled in favour of MonSpace’s defamation suit against Lim and ordered the lawmaker to pay RM2 million in damages and RM250,000 in costs and make a public apology.

The DAP member had since appealed to the Court of Appeal to quash the civil court verdict. He also succeeded in his crowdfunding effort to raise RM2.25 million for the lawsuit.

In 2019, the media reported that MonSpace and its founder filed a civil action against Lim over an allegation that the company was involved in an investment scheme that failed to pay returns as promised to investors.

That same year, the media reported that a few of the company’s founders were also charged in the criminal court over an alleged pyramid scheme.

In mid-2019, MonSpace and Lai filed the defamation action at the civil court after Lim allegedly made multiple statements, including when he and several Chinese nationals visited the company headquarters in Bukit Jalil on May 23, 2017.

According to the lawsuit’s statement of claim, the two plaintiffs sought general and aggravated damages for over 15 alleged defamatory remarks made by Lim through five publications between 2017 and 2018.

Lim, Sungai Pelek assemblyperson Ronnie Liu and 19 Chinese nationals - who claimed they were victims of the MonSpace investment scheme - had gone to the headquarters of the multinational firm to demand a refund or at least an explanation as to why their investment had purportedly not materialised.

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