Bankruptcy petition filed against UUM lecturer over unpaid damages

Youth and Sports Minister Hannah Yeoh has filed a bankruptcy petition against Universiti Utara Malaysia lecturer Kamarul Zaman Yusoff over unpaid court-order damages and costs totalling more than RM400,000.

Yeoh’s lawyer told Malaysiakini that the application was filed on July 9 and that the case management, via e-review, has been fixed for Oct 15.

She confirmed that Kamarul, who was ordered to pay RM400,000 in total for damages and RM80,000 in costs following the High Court’s order in May, did not apply for a stay of execution until July.

“He did not apply for a stay of execution on the verdict day (but), he filed such an application in July.

“High Court will hear his stay of execution application on the 28th of this month,” she said.

Yeoh had filed a defamation suit against Kamarul in 2022, claiming two of the lecturer’s Facebook posts uploaded in May 2017 had defamed her.

Kamarul Facebook posts alleged that Yeoh was “misusing her position to proselytise Christianity through her politics” and her book “Becoming Hannah: A personal journey” was an attempt to drive a “Christianity agenda”.

In her suit, where she sought general, aggravated and exemplary damages from the defendant, she claimed Kamarul’s words were offensive as well as a malicious and serious attempt to defame her.

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On May 29 this year, judge Aliza Sulaiman found that Yeoh had proven Kamarul’s Facebook posts were defamatory.

She awarded RM200,000 in general and aggravated damages for each post to Yeoh, as well as an injunction order against Kamarul to restrain him, his servants or his agents from republishing the impugned or similar statements.

She also awarded RM80,000 to the plaintiff. On the same day, Kamarul issued a statement saying that whilst he respected the court’s decision, he disagreed with its finding and would appeal against it.

Sangeet, as reported by Free Malaysia Today, claimed that Kamarul had not paid the damages and costs, despite many demands for the court order to be executed.

Apart from the bankruptcy petition and Kamarul’s application to postpone the payment, Sangeet confirmed to Malaysiakini that the Court of Appeal has fixed Sept 23 for case management regarding Kamarul’s appeal against the court’s decision.

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