KUALA LUMPUR: The High Court has found blogger Wan Muhammad Azri Wan Deris, also known as Papagomo (pic), liable for defaming former Penang chief minister Lim Guan Eng and his son Clint Lim Way Chau over claims involving an alleged cash seizure at Changi Airport in Singapore.
Justice Roslan Mat Nor allowed the defamation suit filed by Guan Eng and Clint against Wan Muhammad Azri and ordered the defendant to pay RM200,000 in damages to Guan Eng and RM80,000 to Clint.
In his decision, Justice Roslan said Wan Muhammad Azri was indeed the "Papa Azri" that appeared in the statement uploaded onto Facebook.
"The defendant managed the 'Papa Azri' fan page on Facebook. There was no other testimony that showed the account was managed by another party," he said here on Tuesday.
The statement in question had referred to the plaintiffs over allegations that Clint was detained in Singapore.
"The court is satisfied that the statement raised public perception that the first plaintiff (Guan Eng) was an untrustworthy individual and 'gave blessings' to his son's action and tried to solve his son's problem when he was 'detained' in Singapore. The authorities have confirmed that the arrest of the second plaintiff (Clint) did not happen and the first plaintiff was not abroad at the material time," he said.
The court also awarded RM30,000 and RM10,000 in costs to Guan Eng and Clint, respectively, to be paid by Wan Muhammad Azri.
On Oct 15, Guan Eng and Clint filed the lawsuit claiming the defendant had posted on his Facebook page a defamatory statement alleging Clint was detained at Changi Airport on Feb 29, 2020, for bringing in RM2mil cash without proper declaration.
They claimed the statement, posted on March 14, 2020, had been read by the public and received about 2,900 likes, comments from 416 Facebook users and was shared by 315 people on the same day.
The plaintiffs said in their statement of claim that Clint was not even at Changi Airport on the date and time in the defamatory statement.
They contended that at all material times the defendant, an Umno Youth executive council member, is also known as Papagomo and the owner of the Facebook account "Papa Azri".
In his statement of defence, Wan Muhammad Azri denied having posted or published any statements defamatory to the plaintiffs on his Facebook page.
