Apex court sets May 14 to hear ex-AG’s bid for leave to challenge suit dismissal

The Federal Court has set May 14 to hear former attorney-general Mohamad Apandi Ali’s application, to obtain leave to pursue his appeal against the Court of Appeal's decision to dismiss his RM10 million defamation lawsuit against DAP veteran Lim Kit Siang.

His lawyer, M Visvanathan, confirmed to Bernama the hearing date when contacted today.

Apandi filed the application on Dec 1 last year, after losing his appeal at the Court of Appeal on Nov 2 last year.

He wants the Federal Court to determine five legal questions.

Apandi’s suit against Lim, over an article on the 1MDB scandal, was dismissed by the High Court in Kuala Lumpur on May 23, 2022.

In his suit, filed in 2019, Apandi claimed that, on May 6, 2019, Lim had written and caused the publication of an article titled “Dangerous fallacy to think Malaysia’s on the road to integrity”, in Malaysiakini.

Apandi said that the alleged libellous words in the article implied that he was involved in crime and had abetted in the 1MDB financial scandal, was a person with no morals and integrity, unethical and had abused his power when he was the AG.

Apandi, who was the AG from July 27, 2015, to June 4, 2018 - contended that the libellous words were untrue, and written to tarnish his image and credibility as a former AG for cheap publicity.

He sought aggravated and exemplary damages, as well as RM10 million in general damages, an injunction to prevent Lim and/or his agents from publishing the alleged defamatory words again, and other relief deemed fit by the court.

High Court judge Azimah Omar (now Court of Appeal judge), in dismissing Apandi’s suit, ruled that Lim succeeded in justifying his qualified privileges when making those statements, as the 1MDB scandal involves criminality, illegalities and social and economic repercussions to the nation’s economy, as well as the morality of the nation’s top leaders and agencies.

- Bernama

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