KUALA LUMPUR: Selangor Mentri Besar Tan Sri Khalid Ibrahim will be
initiating contempt proceedings against the Government and former MACC
chief commissioner Datuk Seri Ahmad Said Hamdan over his defamation
suit.
His lead counsel S.N.Nair said that Khalid was unhappy as the
defendants have failed to comply with a court order over the
publication of an apology in a newspaper.
"Khalid had instructed us to go ahead with the filing of contempt
proceedings against Ahmad Said and the Government.
"This is due to there is no agreement on the offer to publish the
apology to Khalid in a newspaper," he said.
He said the decision was made after meeting deputy registrar Hilmiah
Yusof over the publication of the apology yesterday.
Under the terms of settlement before High Court judge Justice Lau Bee
Lan on March 19, Ahmad Said was to issue a public apology on the front
page of New Straits Times (NST) within four days from the date of
consent order.
In April, the NST had said they could not publish the apology by MACC
on the front page as it was against their brand and editorial
positioning.
The court later issued an order to NST to publish the apology on the
third page of the newspaper by April 29.
"The Attorney-General's Chambers offered for the publication of the
apology at page nine of the newspaper (NST) but we did not agree to
it," Nair added.
On April 27, 2009, Khalid sued Ahmad Said, the MACC and the Government
for defamation over a statement that he had abused his power as Mentri
Besar.
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