Azam Baki’s defamation suit against Lalitha fixed for July 9 next year

KUALA LUMPUR: The defamation suit filed by Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC) chief commissioner Tan Sri Azam Baki against Centre for Combating Cronyism and Corruption (C4) senior researcher K. Lalitha has been fixed for four days beginning July 9 next year, according to the High Court.

Azam, 59, filed the suit against Lalitha, 50, on Jan 12 last year over a defamatory article published by the Independent News Service (INS) news agency portal related to a purchase of shares.

Azam’s counsel Mohd Shahir Md Tahir said the court fixed the new trial dates before Justice Akhtar Tahir.

"The next case management is June 7, 2024, for the filing of pre-trial documents," said the lawyer when contacted after the online case management before Deputy Registrar Maslina Selamat today (March 13).

The defamation suit was previously set to be heard on Jan 8 to 11 next year.

Azam’s statement of claim stated that the defendant had written two articles titled “Business Ties Among MACC Leadership: How Deep Does It Go? (Part 1)” and “Business Ties Among MACC Leadership: How Deep Does It Go? (Part Two)” that she published on INS in Oct 26, 2021, and republished on Dec 15, the same year.

He also claimed that the defendant had shared links to the articles on her Twitter account @LalithaVelvet that were still accessible (at the time the suit was filed).

Azam claimed that the articles were sensational, scandalous and offensive and were written and republished with malicious intent to give a bad perception to the readers that the plaintiff was a corrupt civil servant or one who has abused his position as a senior MACC official for his or his sibling’s interests.

Azam claimed that the defamatory publication had tarnished his name and reputation and therefore, he sought an order to prevent Lalitha or her agents from making, publishing or causing the defamatory statement to be republished besides requesting the defendant to delete the articles and tweets within three days of judgment and to issue an apology to be published in newspapers and social media platforms of his choice.

He is also seeking RM10mil in general damages, aggravated damages, interests, costs and other relief deemed fit by the court.

Meanwhile, Lalitha through her statement of defence filed on Feb 3 last year, claimed that the contents of the articles and her tweets involving Azam were obtained from legitimate sources. - Bernama