Defamation suit: Court orders Raja Petra to pay Lim Guan Eng RM600,000

KUALA LUMPUR: Former Finance Minister Lim Guan Eng has won RM600,000 in damages in his defamation suit against blog writer Raja Petra Raja Kamarudin over a series of articles alleging corruption in the RM6.3 billion Penang undersea tunnel project.

High Court Judicial Commissioner Datuk Mohd Arief Emran Arifin made the decision while deciding on the assessment of damages obtained by Lim in today's proceedings online.

Counsel Simon Murali who represented Lim when contacted said the court ordered Raja Petra as the defendant to pay RM600,00 in general and aggravated damages as well as RM10,000 cost to Lim.

"The court also ordered the defendant to pay five per cent interest per year from the date of filing of the writ of summons on Sept 6 2019 until the full settlement of the case," he said.

During the proceeding on the assessment of damages on April 14, Lim as the plaintiff in his statement demanded RM20 million in general damages following 20 articles published in both English and bahasa Melayu by Malaysia Today owned by Raja Petra from February 2019.

The DAP secretary-general is also claiming aggravated and exemplary damages amounting to RM500,000 respectively.

On Feb 28 last year, Lim, 61, obtained a default judgement after Raja Petra did not enter an appearance to answer the summons filed against him.

The plaintiff also filed an application to obtain default judgement after Raja Petra failed to respond to the summons advertised by Lim in three newspapers dated Feb 10 2020.

Earlier, Lim tried to submit the writ of summons and statement of claim to Raja Petra through personal services at the blogger's last address obtained from the National Registration Department and the Election Commission but failed.

Lim filed the defamation suit over an article series 'From the MACC Files' published in both English and bahasa Melayu versions of the portal Malaysia Today, owned by Raja Petra between Feb 24 and March 15 2019.

-- BERNAMA