KUALA LUMPUR, Dec 1 — The Court of Appeal today upheld the High Court’s “vexatious litigant” declaration against Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad’s ex-political secretary Matthias Chang.
He has also been barred from filing further suits against American Express (Amex) without leave, the credit card company’s lawyer Prakash Menon told The Malaysian Insider when contacted.
A vexatious litigant refers to a person who files for legal action without basis to harass or subdue an opponent, which is considered an abuse of the court process.
High Court judge Prasad Sandosham Abraham made the declaration in Amex’s favour in July after finding Chang (picture)to have persistently and habitually sued the company for the same claims without reasonable cause.
Chang has filed numerous suits against Amex since 2002 after his credit card was suspended but has consistently lost all the cases in court.
Amex finally filed for the declaration and an order to prevent Chang, a lawyer, from filing further suits against it without the court’s permission on March 5 last year.
In the course of the trial, Chang was slapped with a contempt of court order after quarrelling with the judge, Noor Azian Shaari, and fined RM20,000 or one month’s jail, and was ordered to pay the fine within a week.
More drama ensued when Chang refused to pay the fine and opted to serve the jail sentence. He was released from Kajang Prison a week later after he filed for an ex-parte order.
In the Court of Appeal today, a three-man Bench led by Datuk K.N. Segara ordered Chang to pay RM20,000 in costs.
Chang is now embroiled in a RM50 million defamation suit initiated by businessman Datuk Kalimullah Hassan who accused the Mahathir loyalist of uttering defamatory remarks against him in a press conference on June 13, 2006.
The remarks were carried in a Singapore Straits Times report the next day.
Chang had purportedly said “you are the cobra doing the work of our enemies. You are a traitor” in reference to Kalimullah.
The defamation trial will resume in the Kuala Lumpur High Court on January 10.
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