Jamal fails again to annul Kok’s defamation suit due to ‘inordinate delay’

 

Former minister Teresa Kok says the allegations by Jamal Yunos that she took welfare funds from a foundation were baseless.

PUTRAJAYA: The Court of Appeal has dismissed the appeal of Red Shirts leader Jamal Yunos to strike out the defamation suit by former primary industries minister Teresa Kok over allegations of abuse of state funds.

Lawyer SN Nair said a three-member bench chaired by Suraya Othman upheld the finding of the High Court that there was “inordinate delay by the defendant (Jamal) in filing the striking out application”.

Others on the bench were Has Zanah Mehat and S Nantha Balan.

The bench also ordered Jamal, represented by V Mugunthan and Mohamad Fauzi Abdul Samad, to pay RM7,000 in costs to Kok, who is also the Seputeh MP.

Nair, who was assisted by Elyse Ng Zi Qian and Tan Han Sam, said a remote hearing was held today because of the conditional movement control order.

“Following the dismissal of the appeal, case management will be held on Monday to fix the trial dates,” he said.

On Jan 3, judicial commissioner Quay Chew Soon threw out Jamal’s application filed last year to annul the suit as it was made a day before the trial was scheduled to begin.

Jamal had said he wished to annul the suit on grounds that there was no outcome from the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC) investigations into Kok regarding claims that she and other DAP leaders misappropriated welfare funds belonging to Yayasan Warisan Anak Selangor (Yawas).

However, Nair said Kok had not been charged in court over the allegations for the past two years, and that “this does not stop her from filing the suit”.

He also told the court that the MACC was not required by law to provide the outcome of its investigations.

In her lawsuit filed in 2017, Kok claimed Jamal’s statements had tarnished her reputation as a senior politician in DAP and painted her as a corrupt person.

“The accusations by Jamal were baseless as I did not abuse my powers to obtain funds from Yawas,” she said in her statement of claim.

She sought general, aggravated and exemplary damages as well as an injunction against Jamal from publicising further defamatory statements.

Jamal alleged in 2017 that politicians from Kuala Lumpur and Selangor had taken funds meant for welfare aid from Yawas instead of disbursing the money to eligible recipients. - FMT