Lim to testify in defamation hearing

KUALA LUMPUR: Former finance minister Lim Guan Eng will take the witness box on Aug 21 for a hearing to assess the quantum of damages in his defamation suit against blogger Raja Petra Raja Kamarudin over corruption allegations in relation to the Penang undersea tunnel project.

The assessment of damages is in relation to a judgment in default that Lim successfully obtained from the High Court against the controversial blogger, also referred to as ‘RPK’, on Feb 28.

Counsel Simon Murali, who appeared for Lim, said his client would be the sole plaintiff witness to testify in the hearing.

“The court has fixed Aug 21 for hearing and so far the only plaintiff witness that will testify is Lim himself,” he said after the matter came up for case management in the chambers of High Court judge Datin Rohani Ismail yesterday.

On Feb 28, the court granted Lim, who is the former Penang chief minister, a judgment in default after his suit went uncontested.

He filed the defamation suit against Raja Petra on Sept 6 last year over 10 articles carried on the latter’s online news portal

Malaysia Today, which were published between Feb 24 and March 15, 2019, in both English and Bahasa Malaysia.

The series of articles entitled “From the MACC Files” were in regard to the Malaysian Anti- Corruption Commission’s investigation into the issue of alleged corruption in the infrastructure project.

In the statement of claim, Lim said the allegations in the articles had painted him as indulging in corrupt practices while serving as a chief minister.

Lim had sought exemplary damages on grounds Raja Petra had profited from the huge volume of readership of the articles.

He had also sought a front-page apology, and an injunction to prevent the blogger from issuing or publishing the allegations.

Lim had attempted to serve the writ of summons and statement of claim on the blogger by personal service at his last known address obtained from the National Registration Department and the Election Commission.

However, after an unsuccessful attempt, Lim applied to the court for a substitute service wherein he placed a notice of the suit in three newspapers.

Up to Feb 10, Raja Petra had still failed to respond to the notice to contest the suit and Lim subsequently filed for a judgment in default.