Penang Umno leaders, developer drop legal action against Guan Eng

KUALA LUMPUR: Two Penang Umno leaders and a housing developer have discontinued their legal action against Lim Guan Eng (pix) over his alleged statements in relation to the land issue in Balik Pulau.  

On Monday, High Court Judicial Commissioner Roslan Abu Bakar struck out the suit.  

The plaintiffs filed a notice of discontinuance against the Penang Chief Minister and other defendants on April 1, asking for no order as to costs.  

The notice dated March 31 was filed by the law firm Messrs Abu Bakar As-Sidek. 

In June last year, Lim failed to get the defamation suit against him transferred to the Penang court for the hearing.  

Lim had asked for the case be heard in Penang on the basis that the witnesses, the land in question, and the plaintiffs were all based in the state.  

The plaintiffs were Penang Umno secretary Datuk Musa Sheikh Fadzir, Penang Barisan Nasional secretary Datuk Omar Faudzar and Maison Heights. 

Musa is Bukit Mertajam Umno division chief while Omar is the Bukit Gelugor Umno division head.

Musa, Omar and the developer filed a suit against Lim on Jan 30 last year over articles published on news portals Malaysian Insider and Malaysiakini. 

The three plaintiffs also sued then Malaysian Insider's owner TMI Dot Com Sdn Bhd, its editor Jahabar Sadiq, Malaysiakini's owner Mkini Dotcom Sdn Bhd and its editor Stevan Gan.  

In their lawsuit, they claimed that Lim was responsible for publication of three defamatory articles.  

Maison Heights claimed that the three articles had suggested that it was a fraudulent company that bought and sold land in Balik Pulau to illicitly reap profits.  

Musa and Omar also alleged that the articles implied that they had betrayed and deceived the Malays and were untrustworthy.