Portal publishes inaccurate, misleading article on Musa

KOTA KINABALU: The headline “Musa Aman Drops Suit Against Shafie: Former CM Ordered to Pay Costs” published yesterday by a local news portal is grossly misleading and inaccurate, says the former Sabah chief minister’s lawyer.

In a statement issued in response to the headline, lead counsel for Tan Sri Musa Aman’s legal team Tengku Fuad Tengku Ahmad said that Musa’s suit against Sabah Head of State Tun Juhar Mahiruddin and Sabah Chief Minister Datuk Seri Mohd Shafie Apdal is proceeding and that the High Court had fixed Sept 3 to decide on Shafie’s striking out application.

“The headline is totally misconceived and inaccurate. On June 6, Musa filed an Originating Summons against Tun Juhar and Shafie to declare, among others, that Musa is the rightful Chief Minister of Sabah.

“On the same day, Musa instructed us (legal team) to discontinue the earlier writ of summons, which was filed against Tun Juhar and Shafie on May 17.

“To say that Musa has ‘dropped the suit’ against Shafie is plainly wrong. Musa in fact is continuing his suit against Tun Juhar and Shafie by way of the said originating summons,” stated Tengku Fuad.

On the issue of costs, the lawyer pointed out that “it is usual in High Court proceedings for a plaintiff who discontinues a writ to make an offer for costs”.

“Tan Sri Musa made an offer for costs of RM5,000 and that was duly accepted and ordered by the Court. The portal appears to be trying to make something out of nothing. That is unfortunate,” he said.

Tengku Fuad opined that in future, news portals should check their facts before publishing misleading and inaccurate headlines since such conduct could not only expose the news portal to liability for libel, but moreover would cause the public to become confused in respect of important news items such as Musa’s ongoing case.