Egg importer to serve lawsuit against Azmin via newspaper

KUALA LUMPUR: The High Court here has allowed an egg importer to serve its defamation lawsuit against former minister Datuk Seri Mohamed Azmin Ali (pic) by way of publishing it in newspapers.

This is following the plaintiff's failure to serve the sealed writ of summons and the statement of claim to Mohamed Azmin, who is the defendant, despite numerous attempts.

Lawyer Elyse Ng, who represented the company J&E Advance Tech Sdn Bhd, said they applied to the High Court on April 25 to serve the cause papers on Mohamed Azmin via substituted service.

The application was allowed by the High Court last Friday (April 28).

"We are instructed by the High Court to serve the cause papers on him by publishing the notice in the local newspaper," she said in a press statement.

The case has been fixed for case management on May 16.

Substituted service is when court documents are delivered by way of advertisement or any other means to bring the proceedings to the defendant’s attention after personal service cannot be effected.

On April 12, the egg importer company sued Mohamed Azmin, a former international trade and industry minister, over allegations that the company obtained a contract through direct negotiation with the government to import eggs from India.

J&E Advance Tech claimed that Mohamed Azmin had defamed the company in a political talk titled “Ceramah Perdana: Solidariti Menentang Kezaliman” in Taman Melewar here on March 11, and his words were published by print and electronic media, including YouTube.

Even though the company was not named in the defamatory speech, it was clearly referring to the plaintiff as it was the only Malaysian company allowed to import eggs from India as announced by Agriculture and Food Security Minister Datuk Seri Mohamad Sabu in a Parliament session on March 8.

In its statement of claim, the company said Mohamed Azmin made the allegation with the knowledge that the company was only importing eggs from India as a temporary measure to meet local demand during festive times to help solve the lack of eggs in the market since October 2022.

The company stated that the claims were untrue as the company had never been involved and had no links with whatever direct negotiation by the Malaysian government, and claimed that Mohamed Azmin’s actions were malicious and intended to damage the plaintiff’s image and reputation as well as to gain cheap publicity for political gain.

The plaintiff is seeking an injunction against the defendant to stop him, or any of his agents or workers from speaking or publishing any defamatory statements and to seek general damages, compensation, severe, exemplary, interest and other relief deemed appropriate by the court.