NAWAIKULA LAWSUIT CONTINUES IN AUGUST
The lawsuit filed by the Fiji
Broadcasting Corporation (FBC) and its chief executive officer Riyaz SayedKhaiyum against SODELPA Member of Parliament Niko Nawaikula has been adjourned to August 23, 2018.
The case was called before Master of the High Courtn Vandhana Lal, in Suva yesterday. Emmanuel Narayan of Patel Sharma Lawyers appeared for the Plaintiff.
Mr Narayan filed a summons seeking directions on discovery and pre-trial conference minutes. This was agreed to by Mr Nawaikula who appeared in person.
Both parties have been instructed to file their respective affidavits verifying the list of documents within 21 days. Mr Nawaikula is being sued for putting up a Facebook post on December 21, 2017 at 1.25am titled ‘RIYAZ MUST RESIGN AS ATS CHAIRMAN & GET OUT’.
In the statement of claim filed in the High Court in Suva, Mr Narayan said it had been months since the post was made on Facebook and it caused reputational damage to FBC and to Mr SayedKhaiyum. He added that Mr Nawaikula had published the words out of malevolence or spite towards the plaintiffs.
The statement of claim further states that Mr Nawaikula did not confirm the accuracy of the various assertions made in the post, constituting reckless disregard for the truth and that he further disseminated the statements as widely as possible by continuing to have the post on his Facebook page.
In his statement of defence, which was filed by Mr Nawaikula’s firm Nawaikula Esquire, he accepted publishing the post but added that it was only for followers of his page and not the wider public.