Ismail Sabri sues Sabah newspaper, case management on July 11

The High Court here today set July 11 for case management.

Ismail Sabri, as the plaintiff, had filed the lawsuit through Messrs Kesavan in March 2017, naming Sabah Publishing Sdn Bhd as the first defendant and Daily Express editor, James Sarda as the second defendant.

The media obtained the documents through a file search today.

In his statement of claims, Ismail claimed that the defendants had wrongfully and maliciously published three articles in the Daily Express under the headings, "Minister and Sabah YB have yet to comply: Dept" dated Jan 24, 2016; "Beluran turtle eggs dinner: Findings left to the AG" on Sept 3, 2016 and "Explain 'turtle egg' confusion first, Lim tells Minister" on Sept 6, 2016.

Ismail Sabri who is also the MP for Bera, Pahang, claimed that the three articles meant, among others, that he was avoiding responsibility, did not respect the law, had contravened the law and had ignored the investigation process.

It is illegal to consume or to be in possession of turtle eggs in Sabah.

Ismail Sabri said the defamatory words against him were wrong, baseless, ill-intended and had tarnished his reputation as a public leader, hence he demanded an apology from the defendants and was also seeking general damages, aggravated damages and exemplary damages.

As plaintiff, the minister also asked for an injunction to prevent the defendants from continuing to publish similar articles against him in future.

The defendants, in their statement of claims filed through Messrs Bhag Sulaiman & Co, denied publishing and printing the articles with wrongful and bad intentions.

They claimed that the articles published were produced under conditional safeguards and without malice.