KUALA LUMPUR: A defamation suit filed by former health minister Khairy Jamaluddin against Sungai Besar Umno chief Datuk Seri Jamal Md Yunos was settled out of court after the latter made a public apology at the High Court.
In his apology, Jamal admitted that his allegations against the Rembau MP were untrue, baseless and without sufficient proof.
“I regret the publishing and the spread of the statements that had caused disturbance, public humiliation and damage to the reputation, good name and credibility of Khairy.
“I, therefore, fully retract all the defamatory statements that I have made against Khairy in the press conference and in the said publication,” he added.
Khairy sued Jamal on May 24, 2023 over Jamal’s statements made during the 2022 Umno general assembly on Jan 14 the same year.
The Umno general assembly was postponed from December 2022.
Jamal further admitted that he had falsely alleged that Khairy hired or paid delegates to “boo”, and implied that Khairy was “corrupt and lacked integrity”.
He also made an undertaking to immediately and permanently remove the video recording of the said press conference and any form of publication from the Facebook account “DS Jamal Yunos (DS Jamal Yunos Official)” and the TikTok account “jamal_yunos” to ensure that the publications were no longer accessible to the public.
Justice Anand Ponnudurai then recorded the consent judgment.
At the outset of the proceedings earlier, Khairy’s lawyer informed the court that the parties had reached a settlement.
This was confirmed by Jamal’s lawyers.
In his statement of claim, Khairy alleged that Jamal had convened a media conference at the Kuala Lumpur World Trade Centre attended by media practitioners, Umno delegates and several party members and leaders during the 2022 Umno general assembly on Jan 14, 2023.
He claimed that Jamal uploaded a defamatory video recording titled “I hope Khairy Jamaluddin is disciplined by the Umno Disciplinary Committee after issuing careless and embarrassing statements about UMNO #UmnoDuluKiniDanSelamanya” on his Facebook and TikTok accounts on the same day.
Khairy further claimed the defamatory statements meant to imply that he was a leader devoid of integrity, unfit for leadership and disloyal to Umno and its party leadership.
