Najib, Rosmah seek to settle defamation suit against Nga through point of law

Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak and wife Datin Seri Rosmah Mansor have filed an application to have their defamation case against Taiping MP Nga Kor Ming decided through a point of law without a full trial.

Their lawyer Choo Shi Jin told reporters that the application was filed yesterday and no date had been set to hear it.

The lawsuit was brought for mention in chambers today before judicial commissioner Siti Khadijah S. Hassan Badjenid. Nga was represented by counsel Dennis Goh.

According to Choo, the court fixed May 16 to 19, 2016, for trial, which would continue from May 23 to 26, the same year, if the case were to be decided by the court instead.

In a civil proceeding, if an application to dispose a defamation suit through a point of law is rejected, the court will order a full trial and call witnesses to testify before making a ruling.

Choo said the court had also fixed Oct 23 for case management.

On June 11, Najib, in his personal capacity, and Rosmah filed the lawsuit against Nga alleging that the defendant had on March 29 uploaded a photograph of them with some Cabinet ministers and Wisma Putra senior officials in his Facebook account, which was allegedly accompanied by disparaging remarks.

The plaintiffs claimed that Nga's postings could be accessed freely by Internet users worldwide and had slandered them.

Najib claimed that Nga's remarks meant, among others, that he had abused his power and mandate as the prime minister for his own or wife's interests.

Rosmah claimed that the defendant's remarks implied that she was a selfish person for having alleged influenced her husband as the prime minister to misuse his power and for allegedly meddling in the country's administrative system.