KUALA LUMPUR, Tuesday 16 November 2010 (Bernama) -- The High Court will hear on Monday the application of Datuk Seri Dr Zambry Abdul Kadir to enter a judgment against Parti Keadilan Rakyat president Datin Seri Dr Wan Azizah Wan Ismail and three others in his RM100 million defamation suit against them.
Senior assistant registrar Noordura Mohamed Din fixed the date in chambers in a meeting with the parties concerned today.
Zambry's counsel, Firoz Hussein Jamaluddin, told reporters that the court has re-scheduled the date to hear the application after the defendants' counsel, Ranjit Singh, requested for an adjournment.
The Perak Menteri Besar had applied to enter judgment under Order 27 (Rule 3) of the Rules of the High Court 1980 following an admission by the defendants in their statement of defence.
In the suit filed on Feb 25, Zambry named Wan Azizah in her capacity as an office bearer of PKR, the party's deputy president, Dr Syed Husin Ali, as the chief editor of Suara Keadilan, the publisher of the newspaper, Pelita Koridor Sdn Bhd, and the printer of Suara Keadilan, Percetakan NPK Sdn Bhd, as the defandants.
Zambry, in his statement of claim, said the article published by the monthly Suara Keadilan dated Dec 29, 2009, entitled "Zambry Disyaki Pengganas - Gagal masuk ke Amerika Syarikat (Zambry Suspected as Terrorist - Fails to Enter United States)" contained defamatory words which were false, baseless and were maliciously published.
He said he was not denied entry into the United States and did in fact enter the US and was duly accorded recognition of his status as the Perak Mentri Besar.
He contended that his visit to the US was widely reported in the media and the defendants had intentionally published the defamatory words.
Zambry said the defamatory words had gravely injured his feelings and he had suffered serious damage to his public, personal and political reputation and had also been brought into public scandal, odium and contempt.
He is seeking RM100 million in damages, including aggravated and exemplary damages, interest of 8% per annum and also an injunction to restrain the defendants from further publishing the defamatory words or any similar defamatory words against him.
The defendants, in their statement of defence, stated that an apology entitled 「Mohon Maaf Dr Zambry (Sorry Dr Zambry)」 and withdrawal of the said article were published in the newspaper dated March 30 this year.
MySinchew 2010.11.16
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