Court sets Nov 4 to hear Jamal's application to postpone defamation suit hearing

KUALA LUMPUR: The High Court today set a new date to hear an application by Datuk Seri Jamal Md Yunos to adjourn the defamation suit filed by Former Energy, Science, Technology, Environment and Climate Change Minister Yeo Bee Yin against him, in connection with the Yayasan Warisan Anak Selangor (Yawas) funds.

Lawyer representing Jamal, Mohammed Nasser Yusof, said his client's application would be heard on Nov 4 before Judge Datuk Rozana Ali Yusoff.

"Yesterday, we received an email from deputy registrar Nor Afidah Idris on the notification of the new date.

"The hearing on the application before Judge Rozana should have been today, but it was postponed after the Conditional Movement Control Order (CMCO) in Selangor, Putrajaya and Kuala Lumpur was enforced from yesterday until Oct 27,” he said when contacted by reporters today.

The application was filed on Sept 16 pending the Sungai Besar Umno chief’s appeal at the Court of Appeal to strike out the suit.

Jamal filed the appeal following a decision by the High Court on Aug 7 in dismissing his application to strike out the suit.

Meanwhile, Mohammed Naseer said the case management of his client's appeal in the Court of Appeal has been fixed for Oct 22 through e-Review.

On June 14, 2017, Yeo, as the plaintiff, filed the suit seeking RM5 million in compensation from Jamal for his defamatory statement over the alleged abuse of Yawas funds.

In the statement of claim, Yeo, who is also Bakri MP, claimed that Jamal had issued a defamatory statement on March 21, 2017, and that the statement was also published by several newspapers, news portals and on Jamal’s Facebook account.

Yeo claimed that Jamal’s statement, among others, gave the impression that she had abused public funds for personal use and painted her as an unethical and unreliable person.

Apart from RM5mil in general damages, Yeo is also seeking compensatory, aggravated and exemplary damages and an injunction to prevent Jamal from repeating the allegations.

-- BERNAMA